xious. And
then, one night nearly four weeks after Murray had been pronounced a
saved man, came the climax.

As usual, I was thinking of the Murrays when I went to bed--how well and
handsome and happy he was, how mysteriously and silently the girl was
fading. I must have dropped off to sleep with these thoughts in my mind,
and how long I slept I don't know, but I waked, sitting up, hearing loud
sobs. At first I imagined they were Rosemary's. Then I realized that
they were my own.

In a moment Jim was with me, holding me tight, as if I were a child.
"Darling one, what is it? Tell Jim!" he implored.

"I don't know," I wailed. "Except the letter--or was it a telegram? And
then that dark precipice! She was on the edge. She called to me:
'Elizabeth--help! help!' But the whole ocean came rolling between us.
Oh, Jim, I _must_ get to her!"

"I suppose it's Rosemary you're talking about," Jim said. "But it was
only a dream, dearest child. You're not awake yet. Nothing has happened
to Rosemary."

But I couldn't be consoled. "I suppose it was a dream," I wept. "But
it's true; I know it is. I _know_ something has happened--something
terrible."

"Well, let's hope it hasn't," soothed Jim. "What could happen in the
middle of the night? It's a quarter to three. We can't do anything till
morning. Then, if you still feel anxious, I'll take you over to the
Manor in the car as early as you like. That is, I will if you're good
and do your best to go to sleep again now."

How I adored him, and how sorry I was for Rosemary because a black cloud
obscured the brightness of her love, which might have been as sweet as
mine!

I couldn't sleep again as Jim wished me to do, but he comforted me, and
the dark hours passed. As soon as it was light, however, I bounded up,
bathed and dressed, and Jim did the same for the sake of "standing by";
which was silly of us, perhaps, because it would be hardly decent to
start before half-past nine. If we did we should reach the Manor at an
absurd hour, especially as Ralston and Rosemary were lazy creatures,
even now, when he was rejoicing in this new lease of life. She hated to
get up early, and he liked to do what she liked.

"If anything had been wrong, I think we should have got a telegram by
this time," said Jim, as he tried to make me eat breakfast. "You know
how quickly a wire is delivered at our office from Merriton, and----"

At that instant a footman appeared with a brown envelope on a silve