re stood Monimia
wringing her hands, while Sibylla had taken the quieter method of
showing her agitation by falling into a faint upon the grass. In a
moment Frank had left my side, dashed into the stream, and half forced,
half supported Old Smith to the side, with my assistance, brought him
safe on dry land. The girls hurried round by the bridge, and came upon
us like a charge of Cossacks, while we were attending to the half-drowned
parent on the bank.

"Where is my papa?" exclaimed Monimia--"my dear papa!"--and threw
herself beside him on the turf, showing her figure, I must say, to the
very best advantage. "And you," she cried, "his saviour--his preserver!"
--and here she actually flung herself into poor Frank's arms, and laid
her head upon his shoulder, in one of the most becoming faints I ever
saw. There being no other person worth fainting for, Sibylla retained
her composure; and as Monimia continued insensible, and Old Smith was
really chilled, and might catch his death of cold, we conveyed them
both, as carefully as we could, to the house; gave Monimia in charge to
the gardener's wife and her sister, and installed Old Smith in Frank's
own bed. I sent off a labourer on my pony for the doctor, and went to
make enquiries after Miss Monimia. She was very ill, but Sibylla hoped
she would soon be well enough to attend upon her father. Mr Percy
Marvale made a multitude of quotations from some of his own melodramas
_apropos_ to the occasion, and Sibylla replied in the same high-flown
style. It was evident they were quite used to such incidents in the
Surrey, and I left them to entertain each other. On the doctor's
arrival, he pronounced it improper to remove Mr Smith after his system
had undergone such a shock; and the same judgment, very nearly, was past
on Miss Monimia.

"I told mamma before I left home," whispered that young lady to her
sister, as she lay gracefully on the outside of the bed, "that I would
make an impression on Mr Edwards, if I could. I think this will do it,
if any thing will; for we sha'n't let papa be well enough to move for a
week. He is a delightful, fascinating man, and we have him all to
ourselves."

CHAPTER IV.

Have you?--poor girl, you never heard of Alice Elstree! But Frank, to be
sure, has not heard of her for a year--and you're certainly pretty, and
he's young--and has an eye for the sublime and beautiful. The betting
grows nearly even. All the skill of the gardener's wife, a