nd alighted. He came up
to offer his help, and to express his sorrow at the accident, which he
said, doubtless with truth, was not his fault. I dare say you will have
guessed that the man was Clement Henshaw. Between us we raised Archie and
carried him to the side of the road. He was quite insensible, and
breathing heavily.

"'I am afraid he is rather seriously hurt,' the man said sympathetically.
'We ought to get him to Branchester Hospital as soon as possible.'

"I was so overwhelmed by the sudden and terrible end to our adventure
that I could think of nothing. By a great piece of luck a belated dray
came along on its way to Branchester. Into this, with the driver's help,
we lifted poor Archie; and then Henshaw and I drove on in his trap to
prepare the hospital authorities for the patient's arrival. The doctor
after a cursory examination gave very little hope, and I left the
hospital in a most wretched state of mind, feeling more than indirectly
responsible for the end of that bright young life. Henshaw arranged for
the horse and smashed dogcart to be fetched from the scene of the
accident, and then he asked where in the town he should escort me.

"I thanked him and said, a good deal to his surprise, that I was not
going to stop in Branchester, but would hire a fly and drive to my
destination. I stood, of course, in a hideously false position, and that
he very soon began to divine; he would not hear of my getting a fly at
that hour of the night, but insisted on driving me in his trap to
wherever I wished to go.

"Unhappily I had no idea of the man's character, or I should never have
dreamt of accepting his offer; but I was then in no state of mind to
judge his nature or question his motives; he had proved himself
infinitely kind and resourceful, so in my lonely and agitated condition I
consented, little imagining what the dire result to me would be.

"On the drive back to my home I was naturally in a horribly distressed
state of mind, and hardly dared think of the future. My companion
tactfully refrained from much talking, although I had an idea that his
curiosity was greatly excited to learn the explanation of the affair; he
put occasionally a leading question which I always evaded, when he took
the hint and did not press his inquiries. So far as every one else was
concerned there had been no idea of connecting me with poor Archie
Jolliffe. The hospital people believed that he had been driving alone,
and that I