ou have
been through!"

"Have I not deserved it? That day at Bolsover--"

"Oh, for goodness' sake, don't go back to that. You know it was an
accident, and what was not an accident was the fault of my own folly.
That night I awoke and saw you standing at the door, I knew that you had
already suffered as much as I had."

"That was the last time I saw you. You forget I have still to hear what
happened to you afterwards."

"It's pretty easily told. But I say, Jeff, what did you say her name
was?"

"Raby Atherton," said Jeffreys, smiling. This was about the twentieth
time the boy had broken in with some question about her. "She is the
daughter of your guardian, Colonel Atherton, who was your father's
comrade in Afghanistan. Some day she will tell you the story of a
battle out there which will make you proud of being Captain Forrester's
son. But I want to hear about you."

"I was taken home to Grangerham, you know. My grandmother was ill at
the time, and just starting South, so I was left in charge of my old
nurse. She was an awful brick to me, was that old soul, and I don't
believe I know yet all she did and put up with for me.

"The doctors at Grangerham couldn't make anything of me. One said I'd
be cutting about again in a few weeks, and another said I'd be buried in
a few days. It's hard to decide when doctors disagree at that rate, and
old Mary gave it up, and did what was the best thing--kept me quietly at
home. Of course we thought that my grandmother had written to my
father, but she hadn't, so he can't have heard for ages. We heard of my
grandmother's death presently, and then made the pleasant discovery that
she had died in debt, and that the furniture of the house was hired.
That pulled Mary and me up short. She had saved a little, and I believe
she spent every penny of that to get me up to London to a hospital. I
didn't have a bad time of it there for a month or two. I was considered
an interesting case, and had all sorts of distinguished fellows to come
and look at me, and I lived like a fighting-cock all the time. I found,
as long as I lay flat, and didn't get knocked about, I was really pretty
comfortable, and what was more, I could use my hands. That was no end
of a blessing. I had picked up a few ideas about drawing you know, at
Bolsover, and found now that I could do pretty well at it. I believe
some of my sketches at the Middlesex were thought well of. Mary came to
see me near