that heeds it not and retains it not! True, the water
wears the rock away; but could she be satisfied with that? She could
master him, she knew; even if things were so, she could win him to
herself, she had read it in his eyes that afternoon; but could she, who
had promised to her dead mother to cherish and protect her sister, whom
till this day she had loved better than anything in the world, and
whom she still loved more dearly than her life--could she, if it should
happen to be thus, rob that sister of her lover? And if it should be so,
what would her life be like? It would be like the great pillar after the
lightning had smitten it, a pile of shattered smoking fragments, a very
heaped-up debris of a life. She could feel it even now. No wonder, then,
that Jess sat there upon the little white bed holding her hand against
her heart and feeling terribly afraid.

Just then she heard John's footsteps in the hall.

"I can't find her," he said in an anxious tone to some one as she rose,
taking her candle with her, and left the room. The light of it fell full
upon his face and dripping clothes. It was white and anxious, and she
was glad to see the anxiety.

"Oh, thank God! here you are!" he said, catching her hand. "I began to
think you were quite lost. I have been right down the Kloof after you,
and got a nasty fall over it."

"It is very good of you," she said in a low voice, and again their eyes
met, and again her glance thrilled him. There was such a wonderful light
in Jess's eyes that night.

Half an hour afterwards they sat down as usual to supper. Bessie did
not put in an appearance till it was a quarter over, and then sat
very silent through it. Jess narrated her adventure in the Kloof, and
everybody listened, but nobody said much. There seemed to be a shadow
over the house that evening, or perhaps it was that each party was
thinking of his own affairs. After supper old Silas Croft began talking
about the political state of the country, which gave him uneasiness.
He said that he believed the Boers really meant to rebel against the
Government this time. Frank Muller had told him so, and he always knew
what was going on. This announcement did not tend to raise anybody's
spirits, and the evening passed as silently as the meal had done. At
last Bessie got up, stretched her rounded arms, and said that she was
tired and going to bed.

"Come into my room," she whispered to her sister as she passed. "I want
to speak