fetch the
physician!" He rushed forth, and hastened through the wood to the ball,
where he ordered the men to bring out a sedan-chair for the invalid;
then had horses put into one of the lightest carriages, seated himself
in it as coachman, and drove away to Nyborg, the nearest town, which,
however, was distant almost twenty miles.

Sophie was inconsolable. "It is my fault!" she said, and wept.

Otto found her sitting before the house, under an elder-tree. She could
not endure to see Eva's paleness.

"You are innocent," said Otto. "Believe me, to-morrow Eva will be
completely restored! She herself," added he, in an assuaging tone,
"behaved in an imprudent manner. I warned her not to run. Her own terror
is to blame for all."

"No, no," returned Sophie; "my folly, my extravagance, has caused the
whole misfortune!"

"Now it is much better," said the Kammerjunker, coming out of the house.
"She must be devilish tender to fly before a few calves! I really must
laugh when I think of it, although it did come to such an end!"

The men now arrived whom Wilhelm had sent with the sedan-chair.

Eva thought she could walk, if she might lean upon some one; but it
would be better, her friends thought, if she were carried.

"Dost thou feel any pain?" asked Louise, and gave her a sisterly kiss on
the brow.

"No, none at all," replied Eva. "Do not scold me for having frightened
you so. I am so fearful, and the bullock were close behind us."

"They were, God help me, only calves!" answered the Kammerjunker; "they
wished to play, and only ran because you ran!"

"It was a foolish joke of mine!" said Sophie, and seized Eva's hand. "I
am very unhappy about it!"

"O no!" said Eva, and smiled so pensively, yet happily. "To-morrow I
shall be quite well again!" Her eye seemed to seek some one.

Otto understood the glance. "The physician is sent for. Wilhelm has
himself driven over for him."

Toward the middle of the wood the mother herself approached them; she
was almost as pale as Eva.

All sought to calm her; Eva bowed her head to kiss the good lady's hand.
The Kammerjunker told the story to her, and she shook her head. "What an
imprudent, foolish joke!" said she; "here you see the consequences!"

Not before late in the afternoon did Wilhelm return with the physician;
he found his patient out of all danger, but prescribed what should still
be done. Quiet and the warm summer air would do the most for her.

"See," said Otto, w