He was in his
pyjamas. The left sleeve was torn, showing his bare arm, and stretched
out toward the safe. It looked--oh! so terrible, patched all with
blood, and with the flesh torn or cut all around a gold chain bangle on
his wrist. I did not know he wore such a thing, and it seemed to give
me a new shock of surprise."

She paused a moment; and as I wished to relieve her by a moment's
divergence of thought, I said:

"Oh, that need not surprise you. You will see the most unlikely men
wearing bangles. I have seen a judge condemn a man to death, and the
wrist of the hand he held up had a gold bangle." She did not seem to
heed much the words or the idea; the pause, however, relieved her
somewhat, and she went on in a steadier voice:

"I did not lose a moment in summoning aid, for I feared he might bleed
to death. I rang the bell, and then went out and called for help as
loudly as I could. In what must have been a very short time--though it
seemed an incredibly long one to me--some of the servants came running
up; and then others, till the room seemed full of staring eyes, and
dishevelled hair, and night clothes of all sorts.

"We lifted Father on a sofa; and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grant, who
seemed to have her wits about her more than any of us, began to look
where the flow of blood came from. In a few seconds it became apparent
that it came from the arm which was bare. There was a deep wound--not
clean-cut as with a knife, but like a jagged rent or tear--close to the
wrist, which seemed to have cut into the vein. Mrs. Grant tied a
handkerchief round the cut, and screwed it up tight with a silver
paper-cutter; and the flow of blood seemed to be checked at once. By
this time I had come to my senses--or such of them as remained; and I
sent off one man for the doctor and another for the police. When they
had gone, I felt that, except for the servants, I was all alone in the
house, and that I knew nothing--of my Father or anything else; and a
great longing came to me to have someone with me who could help me.
Then I thought of you and your kind offer in the boat under the
willow-tree; and, without waiting to think, I told the men to get a
carriage ready at once, and I scribbled a note and sent it on to you."

She paused. I did not like to say just then anything of how I felt. I
looked at her; I think she understood, for her eyes were raised to mine
for a moment and then fell, leaving her cheeks as red as peo