ous, because of
the stranger who was sitting behind. It was horrible to be wet,
dirty, and thoroughly bedraggled, but it was still more horrible to
be compelled to sit in such a condition right under the eyes of a
strange man, whose every tone and gesture proclaimed him a
gentleman. But they were very nearly at the end of the journey.
The roar of the rapids was in their ears, and Katherine was
thinking with a sigh of relief that she would soon be able to rest
her aching arms.

Suddenly Miles leant forward and spoke. "I'm afraid there is
something wrong at home. Phil has just dashed out of the store
door, looking as white as chalk. He beckoned to us to hurry, and
now he has rushed back again."

"Father! Perhaps he is not so well," exclaimed Katherine, with a
quick terror gripping at her heart. Then she thought with a swift
compunction of the stranger they were bringing home, and wondered
if her father would resent the intrusion.

But Phil had run out again just as the boat grounded against the
bank, and now he began shouting: "Oh, do come quick; Father is
dreadfully ill, and Nellie does not know what to do with him."

"You go first; the boy will help me," said Jervis Ferrars, hurrying
Katherine out of the boat.

She landed with a bound and tried to run, but her water-logged
garments clung so closely about her that she could only walk, and
the few steps to the door seemed like a mile.

"Nellie says it is a stroke, and she is afraid Father is dying,"
sobbed Phil, who was running to and fro in a distracted fashion.

A faint cry broke from Katherine, and she caught at the doorpost to
save herself. Yet even in that moment she realized that this was
only what she had been expecting every time that she had returned
from an absence all the winter through. But to-day found her so
shaken and unfit for strain that it was not wonderful she broke
down, feeling that this last disaster was too great to be borne. A
moment she clung there sick and faint, while the ground under her
feet seemed to rise up like the waves of the sea; then the
frightened wailing of Beth and Lotta reached her ears, and steadied
her nerves to meet the demands upon her.

"Poor mites, how frightened they must be!" she murmured to herself,
then stumbled forward again, crossing the store and entering the
kitchen.

'Duke Radford lay on the floor. Doubtless he had fallen so, and
Mrs. Burton had been unable to lift him; but there was a pillow