tree."

"What--not in the water?"

"She may have fallen in. I had but one arm, and that hurting
terrible."

"Good heavens!" exclaimed Iver. "You came home whining over your
arm--leaving her in the marsh!"

"You don't suppose I threw her in?" sneered Jonas. "Me--bad of an
arm."

"I don't know what to think," retorted Iver. "But I will know where
Mehetabel is."

In the doorway, with her back to the moonlight, stood a female
figure.

The first to see it was Jonas, and he uttered a gasp--he thought he
saw a spirit.

The figure entered, without a word, and all saw that it was
Mehetabel.

CHAPTER XXVI.

A SECRET.

It was indeed Mehetabel.

She entered quietly, without a word, carrying Bideabout's gun, which
she placed in the corner, by the fireplace.

Jonas and his sister looked at her, at first terror-struck, as
though they beheld a ghost, then with unrest, for they knew not
what she would say.

She said nothing.

She was deadly pale, and Iver, looking at her, was reminded of the
Mehetabel he had seen in his dream.

At once she recognized that her husband's arm was being dressed,
and leisurely, composedly, she came forward to hold the basin of
water, and do whatever was required of her by the surgeon.

The first to speak was Iver, who said, "Matabel! We have just been
told you had fallen into the water."

"Yes. My dress is soaked."

"And you managed to get out?"

"Yes, when I fell I had hold of my husband's gun and that was
caught in a bush; it held me up."

"But how came you to fall?"

"I believe I was unconscious perhaps a faint."

Nothing further could be elicited from her, then or later. Had she
any suspicion that she had been struck down? This was a question
that, later, Jonas asked himself. But he never knew till--, but we
must not anticipate.

A day or two after that eventful night he made some allusion to a
blow on her head, when she appeared with a bandage round it.

"Yes," she said: "I fell, and hurt myself."

For some days Bideabout was in much pain and discomfort. His left
shoulder had been injured by the ball that had lodged in it, and
it was probable that he would always be stiff in that arm, and be
unable to raise it above the breast. He was irritable and morose.

He watched Mehetabel suspiciously and with mistrust of her
intentions. What did she know? What did she surmise? If she
thought that he had attempted to put an end to her life, would she
retaliate?