. Shall I be able to go
home to-day?"

"I think so," said the doctor, "but not before this evening. You had
better keep quiet till then. You will be glad to hear that Miss Beatrice
is getting on very well. Hers was a wonderful recovery, the most
wonderful I ever saw. I had quite given her up, though I should have
kept on the treatment for another hour. You ought to be grateful to Miss
Beatrice, Mr. Bingham. But for her you would not have been here."

"I am most grateful," he answered earnestly. "Shall I be able to see her
to-day?"

"Yes, I think so, some time this afternoon, say at three o'clock. Is
that your little daughter? What a lovely child she is. Well, I will look
in again about twelve. All that you require to do now is to keep quiet
and rub in some arnica."

About an hour afterwards the servant girl brought Geoffrey some
breakfast of tea and toast. He felt quite hungry, but when it came to
the pinch he could not eat much. Effie, who was starving, made up for
this deficiency, however; she ate all the toast and a couple of slices
of bread and butter after it. Scarcely had they finished, when her
father observed a shade of anxiety come upon his little daughter's face.

"What is it, Effie?" he asked.

"I think," replied Effie in evident trepidation, "I think that I hear
mother outside and Anne too."

"Well, dear, they have come to see me."

"Yes, and to scold me because I ran away," and the child drew nearer to
her father in a fashion which would have made it clear to any observer
that the relations between her and her mother were somewhat strained.

Effie was right. Presently there was a knock at the door and Lady
Honoria entered, calm and pale and elegant as ever. She was followed by
a dark-eyed somewhat impertinent-looking French _bonne_, who held up her
hands and ejaculated, "Mon Dieu!" as she appeared.

"I thought so," said Lady Honoria, speaking in French to the _bonne_.
"There she is," and she pointed at the runaway Effie with her parasol.

"Mon Dieu!" said the woman again. "Vous voila enfin, et moi, qui suis
accablee de peur, et votre chere mere aussi; oh, mais que c'est mechant;
et regardez donc, avec un soulier seulement. Mais c'est affreux!"

"Hold your tongue," said Geoffrey sharply, "and leave Miss Effie alone.
She came to see me."

Anne ejaculated, "Mon Dieu!" once more and collapsed.

"Really, Geoffrey," said his wife, "the way you spoil that child is
something shocking. She is wilful