of difficulties shaped themselves
into a broad, even path, along which the boy travelled till the exciting
times were past.

To begin with, nature knew when the brain would bear no more; and just
at sunrise, when Frank had tried to nerve himself for a fresh struggle
by plunging face and a good portion of his head into cold water previous
to having a good brisk rub, and then lain down to think out his
difficulty once more, unconsciously choosing the best attitude for clear
thought, a calm and restful sensation stole over him. One moment he was
gazing at the bright light stealing in beside his blind; the next he was
in profound mental darkness, wrapped in a deep, restful slumber, which
lasted till nearly ten o'clock, when he was aroused by a knocking at his
door, and leaped out of bed, confused and puzzled, unable for a few
moments to collect his thoughts into a focus and grasp what it meant.

"Yes," he said at last. "What is it?"

"Will you make haste and go across to Lady Gowan's apartments, sir?"
said a voice. "She has been very ill all night, and wishes to see you."

"Oh!" groaned Frank to himself. Then aloud: "Yes; come over directly."

He began to dress rapidly, with all the troubles of the night magnified
and made worse by the mental lens of reproach through which he was
looking at his conduct.

"How can I be such a miserable, thoughtless wretch!" he thought. "How
could I neglect everything which might have helped to save my poor
father for the sake of grovelling here, and all the time my mother ill,
perhaps dying, while I slept, not seeming to care a bit!"

He had a few minutes of hard time beneath the unsparing lashes he
mentally applied to himself as he was dressing; and then, ready to sink
beneath his load of care, and feeling the while that he ought to have
obtained from Captain Murray the route the prisoners would take, and
then have found Drew Forbes and told him, so as to render the attempt at
rescue easier, he hurried across the first court, and then into the
lesser one to his mother's apartments.

"The doctor's with her, sir," whispered the maid.

"How is she now?" asked Frank.

"Dreadfully bad, sir. Pray make haste to her; she asked for you again
when the doctor came."

Frank hurried up, to find the quiet physician who attended her and a
nurse in the room, while the patient lay with her eyes looking dim, and
two hectic spots in her thin cheeks, gazing anxiously at the door.

A faint s