ld help, as they cut the soaked boot from the swollen foot. But
he said nothing, and, when the house was reached, went at once to his
own room, wondering what he could do to make her more comfortable.

Acting upon Howard's advice, Eloise was not mentioned, either at lunch
or at dinner. Amy had evidently forgotten her, for she made no inquiry
for her. Neither did the Colonel. She was, however, much in the minds of
the young men, and each was wondering how he could best serve her.
Howard thought of a sea chair, in which his uncle had crossed the ocean.
He had found it covered with dust in the attic, and brought it to his
room to lounge in. It would be far more comfortable for Eloise than that
stiff, straight-backed, hair-cloth rocker in which she had to sit so
upright. He would send it to her with Amy's compliments, if he could
manage it without the knowledge of Jack, who he would rather should not
know how much he was really interested in Eloise. Jack was also planning
what he could do, and thought of a wheel chair, in which she could be
taken to and from school. He might possibly find one in the village by
the shore. He would inquire without consulting Howard, whose joking
grated a little, as it presupposed the impossibility of his really
caring for one so far removed from his station in life as Eloise seemed
to be.

Could she have known how much she was in the minds of the young men at
Crompton Place, she would not have felt quite as forlorn and
disconsolate as she did during the long hours of the day, when she sat
helpless and alone, except as Mrs. Biggs tried to entertain her with a
flow of talk and gossip which did not interest her. A few of the
neighbors called in the evening, and it seemed to Eloise that every one
had had a sprained ankle or two, of which they talked continually,
dwelling mostly upon the length of time it took before they were able to
walk across the floor, to say nothing of the distance from Mrs. Biggs's
to the school-house. That would be impossible for two or three weeks at
least, and even then Miss Smith would have to go on crutches most
likely, was their comforting assurance.

"I've got some up garret that I used twenty years ago. Too long for her,
but Tim can cut them off. They are just the thing. Lucky I kept them,"
Mrs. Biggs said, while Eloise listened with a feeling like death in her
heart, and dreamed that night of hobbling to school on Mrs. Biggs's
crutches, while Jack Harcourt helped