r. By what seemed the special
interposition of a considerate Providence she tottered to the inner edge
of the parapet instead of to the outer, and reeled over upon the lead
roof two or three feet below the wall.

Knight seized her as in a vice, and he said, panting, 'That ever I
should have met a woman fool enough to do a thing of that kind! Good
God, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!'

The close proximity of the Shadow of Death had made her sick and pale
as a corpse before he spoke. Already lowered to that state, his words
completely over-powered her, and she swooned away as he held her.

Elfride's eyes were not closed for more than forty seconds. She opened
them, and remembered the position instantly. His face had altered its
expression from stern anger to pity. But his severe remarks had rather
frightened her, and she struggled to be free.

'If you can stand, of course you may,' he said, and loosened his arms.
'I hardly know whether most to laugh at your freak or to chide you for
its folly.'

She immediately sank upon the lead-work. Knight lifted her again. 'Are
you hurt?' he said.

She murmured an incoherent expression, and tried to smile; saying, with
a fitful aversion of her face, 'I am only frightened. Put me down, do
put me down!'

'But you can't walk,' said Knight.

'You don't know that; how can you? I am only frightened, I tell you,'
she answered petulantly, and raised her hand to her forehead. Knight
then saw that she was bleeding from a severe cut in her wrist,
apparently where it had descended upon a salient corner of the
lead-work. Elfride, too, seemed to perceive and feel this now for the
first time, and for a minute nearly lost consciousness again. Knight
rapidly bound his handkerchief round the place, and to add to the
complication, the thundercloud he had been watching began to shed some
heavy drops of rain. Knight looked up and saw the vicar striding towards
the house, and Mrs. Swancourt waddling beside him like a hard-driven
duck.

'As you are so faint, it will be much better to let me carry you down,'
said Knight; 'or at any rate inside out of the rain.' But her objection
to be lifted made it impossible for him to support her for more than
five steps.

'This is folly, great folly,' he exclaimed, setting her down.

'Indeed!' she murmured, with tears in her eyes. 'I say I will not be
carried, and you say this is folly!'

'So it is.'

'No, it isn't!'

'It is folly, I think. At an