on. "Mr. Derrick has
had a very unpleasant affair with one of the men who work under him--no
other than that Lowrie--the young woman's father. They are a bad lot it
seems, and Lowrie had a spite against Derrick, and attacked him openly,
and in the most brutal manner, as he was going through the village
yesterday evening."

"Are you sure?" cried Anice. "Oh! papa," and she put her hand upon the
table as if she needed support.

"There is not the slightest doubt," was the answer, "everybody is
talking about it. It appears that it is one of the strictest rules of
the mine that the men shall keep their Davy lamps locked while they are
in the pit--indeed they are directed to deliver up their keys before
going down, and Derrick having strong suspicions that Lowrie had
procured a false key, gave him a rather severe rating about it, and
threatened to report him, and the end of the matter was the trouble of
yesterday. The wonder is, that Derrick came off conqueror. They say he
gave the fellow a sound thrashing. There is a good deal of force in that
young man," he said, rubbing his hands. "There is a good deal of--of
pluck in him--as we used to say at Oxford."

Anice shrank from her father's evident enjoyment, feeling a mixture
of discomfort and dread. Suppose the tables had turned the other way.
Suppose it had been Lowrie who had conquered. She had heard of horrible
things done by such men in their blind rage. Lowrie would not have
paused where Derrick did. The newspapers told direful tales of such
struggles ending in the conquered being stamped upon, maimed, beaten out
of life.

"It is very strange," she said, almost impatiently. "Mr. Grace must have
known, and yet he said nothing. I wish he would come."

As chance had it, the door opened just at that moment, and the Curate
was announced. He was obliged to drop in at all sorts of unceremonious
hours, and to-day some school business had brought him. The Rector
turned to greet him with unwonted warmth. "The very man we want," he
exclaimed. "Anice was just wishing for you. We have been talking of this
difficulty between Derrick and Lowrie, and we are anxious to hear what
you know about it."

Grace glanced at Anice uneasily.

"We wanted to know if Mr. Derrick was quite uninjured," she said. "Papa
did not hear that he was hurt at all, but you will be able to tell us."

There was an expression in her upraised eyes the Curate had never seen
there.

"He met with an injury,"