peech, and the
physician, noticing it, continued:

"No doubt you think I'm meddling with what is none of my business, but
I've seen enough to-day to convince me that such a romantic result of
this accident would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to
you. But how do you find yourself to-day?" he concluded, abruptly
changing the subject.

"I have some pain in this right leg, but not enough to fret over,"
Wallace replied, turning his now pale face away from the doctor's keen
eyes.

There had suddenly come a sharper pain in his heart than any physical
suffering that he had as yet endured, as, all at once, he became
conscious that he had already been guilty of doing exactly what the good
surgeon had warned him against.

Already he had begun to love Violet Huntington with all the strength and
passion of his manly, honest heart. He had been instantly attracted by
her lovely face and lady-like appearance, when he entered the car that
bright spring afternoon. When his glance met hers a magnetic current had
seemed to be established between them. When she had realized the horror
of their situation, after the grip upon the cable had been lost, and
thrown out her hands so appealingly to him, his heart had been suddenly
thrilled with the desire to save her, even at the expense of his own
life; in that one brief instant he had given himself to her, for life or
death. When he had clasped her hands about his neck and lifted her upon
his breast--when he had felt her head droop upon his shoulder, and the
beating of her frightened heart against his own, a feeling almost of
ecstasy had taken possession of him, and the strange thought had come to
him that he was perhaps going into eternity with the woman who should
have been his wife--with the one kindred soul designed for him by his
Maker.

But now the doctor's words had given him a rude shock, and he resolved,
rather than allow a suspicion of his affection to make trouble for the
sweet girl who had become the one coveted object of his life, to bury it
so deep in his heart that no other should ever mistrust it.

CHAPTER III.

WILLFUL VIOLET HAS HER OWN WAY.

That same evening a thoroughly competent nurse was installed by Violet's
bedside, and Mrs. Mencke, having given certain directions regarding the
care of her sister, returned to her home on Auburn avenue.

She came every day afterward, however, to ascertain how Violet was
progressing, and though for a week