was at home;
but I was told that Marty was in the wood with old Chucker-out, and
I went thither to find her, loudly whistling a bar which served as a
rallying signal to the family. It was not answered, but after a long
hunt I found Marty lying on the ground at the foot of a tree, and
Chucker-out licking her face and hands.

She had been crying, and seemed half-unconscious.

When I spoke to her she opened her eyes and said:

"Oh, Uncle Bob, I _have_ hurt myself so! I fell down that tree. Do
you think you could carry me home?"

Beside myself with terror and anxiety, I took her up as gently as I
could, and made my way to the house. She had hurt the base of her
spine as she fell on the roots of the tree; but she seemed to get
better as soon as Sparrow, the nurse, had undressed her and put her
to bed.

I sent for the doctor, however, and he thought, after seeing her,
that I should do well to send for Dr. Knight.

Just then Leah and Barty came in, and we telegraphed for Dr. Knight,
who came at once.

Next day Dr. Knight thought he had better have Sir ---- ----, and
there was a consultation.

Marty kept her bed for two or three days, and then seemed to have
completely recovered but for a slight internal disturbance, brought
on by the concussion, and which did not improve.

One day Dr. Knight told me he feared very much that this would end
in a kind of ataxia of the lower limbs--it might be sooner or later;
indeed, it was Sir ---- ----'s opinion that it would be sure to do
so in the end--that spinal paralysis would set in, and that the
child would become a cripple for life, and for a life that would not
be long.

I had to tell this to her father and mother.

* * * * *

Marty, however, recovered all her high spirits. It was as if nothing
had happened or could happen, and during six months everything at
Marsfield went on as usual but for the sickening fear that we three
managed to conceal in our hearts, even from each other.

At length, one day as Marty and I were playing lawn-tennis, she
suddenly told me that her feet felt as if they were made of lead,
and I knew that the terrible thing had come....

I must really pass over the next few months.

In the summer of the following year she could scarcely walk without
assistance, and soon she had to go about in a bath-chair.

Soon, also, she ceased to be conscious when her lower limbs were
pinched and pricked till an interval of abo