without
paying the penalty.

"And now, I suppose, I have done," he said with a smile, as Mrs.
Donald left the room with the medicine.

"Yes, I think so," Mrs. Barker said. "If you had come an hour
earlier, I should have put this young lady under your charge; but I
think that the assurance of my husband, that Captain Whitney was
doing well, has been a better medicine than you could give her."

"No wonder she is shaken," Mr. Ruskin remarked.

"Mrs. Barker tells me you had a heavy fall, too, Miss Ellison."

"Yes," she replied. "I was stunned for a time but, beyond being
stiff and bruised, I am none the worse for it."

"Look here, Miss Ellison," the doctor said, after putting his
fingers on her wrist, "I suppose you will want to be about,
tomorrow, when our brave army returns. Now, there is nothing you
can do here. Mrs. Donald can nurse her husband. The other two
require no nursing. Mrs. Barker, I am sure, will take charge of the
house; and therefore, seriously, I would ask you to take this
draught I am about to mix for you, and to go upstairs and go to
bed, and sleep till morning."

"I could not sleep," Kate protested.

"Very well, then, lie quiet without sleeping; and if, in the
evening, you find you are restless, you can come down for an hour
or two; but I really must insist on your lying down for a bit.

"Now, Mrs. Barker, will you take this medicine up, and put this
young lady to bed."

"I hope she will get off to sleep," Mrs. Barker said, when she came
downstairs again.

"I have no doubt whatever about it," Mr. Ruskin replied. "I have
given her a very strong sleeping draught, far stronger than I
should think of giving, at any other time; but after the tension
that the poor girl must have gone through, it would need a strong
dose to take effect. I think you will hear nothing more of her,
till the morning."

Indeed, it was not until the sun was well up, the next morning,
that Kate Ellison woke. She could hardly believe that she had slept
all night; but the eastern sun, coming in through her window,
showed her that she had done so. She still felt bruised and shaken
all over, but was otherwise herself again. She dressed hastily, and
went downstairs.

"That's right, my dear," Mrs. Barker, who was already busy in the
kitchen, said. "You look bonny, and like yourself."

"How are my brother and Captain Whitney?" Kate asked.

"I don't think Mr. Donald is awake, yet," Mrs. Barker replied; "but
Captain Whi