ruck me that possibly the sudden shock and the
jump into the water when they attacked the boats, and that rap on the
head with a musket ball, might have affected his nervous system, and
that he was altogether cured, so he was determined on the first occasion
to try."

"And did it, Doctor?" Isobel asked eagerly. "I don't care, you know, one
bit whether he is nervous when there is a noise or not, but for his sake
I should be glad to know that he has got over it; it has made him so
unhappy."

"He has got over it, my dear; he went through the fight without feeling
the least nervous, and distinguished himself very much in the charge, as
the officer who commanded his troop has just told me."

"Oh, I am glad--I am thankful, Doctor; no words can say how pleased I
am; I know that it would have made his whole life unhappy, and I should
have always had the thought that he remembered those hateful words of
mine."

"I am as glad as you are, Isobel, though I fancy it will change our
plans."

"How change our plans, Doctor? I did not know that I had any plans."

"I think you had, child, though you might not acknowledge them even
to yourself. My plan was that you should somehow convince him that, in
spite of what you said, and in spite of his leaving you in that boat,
you were quite content to take him for better or for worse."

"How could I tell him that?" the girl said, coloring.

"Well, I think you would have had to do so somehow, my dear, but that is
not the question now. My plan was that when you had succeeded in doing
this you should marry him and go home with him."

"But why, Doctor," she asked, coloring even more hotly than before, "is
the plan changed?"

"Because, my dear, I don't think Bathurst will go home with you."

"Why not, Doctor?" she asked, in surprise.

"Because, my dear, he will want, in the first place, to rehabilitate
himself."

"But no one knows, Doctor, about the siege and what happened there,
except you and me and Mr. Wilson; all the rest have gone."

"That is true, my dear, but he will want to rehabilitate himself in his
own eyes; and besides, that former affair which first set you against
him, might crop up at any time. Other civilians, many of them, have
volunteered in the service, and no man of courage would like to go away
as long as things are in their present state. You will see Bathurst will
stay."

Isobel was silent.

"I think he will be right," she said at last gravely; "if he wish