tten
everything in the world but our two selves. I felt like a murderess
when I looked at Rachel's still face, and hated myself for what I had
done. Yet how could I help it? When you face death at the distance of
a few seconds, all pretence dies away, and you act unconsciously as the
heart dictates. I wanted Will--and--_Will wanted me_! Oh, it is
wonderful, wonderful to think of! All these months when he has avoided
me, and I thought he liked me less, has he really been loving me, and
trying to get over it in loyalty to poor, dear Rachel? And was that
what it meant when he called me "Una!" and his voice lingered over the
word?

Looking back now, I can understand lots of things which puzzled and
worried me at the time. I think he began to love me almost at the very
first, as I did him. But oh, Rachel, Rachel--dear, sweet, unselfish
Rachel! I'd rather die than steal your happiness from you! Did she
hear, I wonder? Did she _see_? Father and mother were too much
engrossed in themselves to know anything about it--perhaps she, too, was
too excited to notice. Yet, surely in that awful moment she would turn
to Will for comfort, and when she saw him absorbed in me, forgetting her
very existence, she must understand. Oh, she must!

I was terrified to meet her eyes when at last we reached the parlour of
the inn, and the doctor came to attend to us all in turns. She was
lying on the sofa, and when I made myself go over to speak to her, my
heart gave a great throb of thankfulness, for she smiled at me, very
feebly, but as sweetly as ever, and pressed my hand between hers. She
shook her head when I asked her a question, and seemed as if she could
not bear to talk. The doctor was puzzled by her condition; he could
find no real injuries, but said she was evidently suffering from shock,
and must be kept as quiet as possible until she recovered her nerve. We
were sponged, bandaged, plastered, and fortified with tea, and a
wretched livid-looking party we were! No one could possibly have
recognised us as the same people who had set out so gaily four hours
before.

The doctor was anxious that we should telegraph home, and spend the
night at the inn, but we had two more invalids to consider--Mrs Greaves
and Vere, neither of whom were fit to be left alone in suspense, so we
chartered a big covered omnibus, borrowed dozens of pillows and
cushions, and set out to drive the remaining ten miles, leaving the
chauffeur to be