. Before either of us could move, the
door was thrust open, and two young ladies appeared upon the door-sill.

They were--it flashed across me in an instant--old school-fellows and
friends of Julia's. I declare to you honestly, I had scarcely had one
thought of Julia till now. My mother I had wished for, to take her place
by this poor girl's side, but Julia had hardly crossed my mind. Why, in
Heaven's name, should the appearance of these friends of hers be so
distasteful to me just now? I had known them all my life, and liked them
as well as any girls I knew; but at this moment the very sight of them
was annoying. They stood in the doorway, as much astonished and
thunderstricken as I was, glaring at me, so it seemed to me, with that
soft, bright-brown lock of hair curling and clinging round my finger.
Never had I felt so foolish or guilty.

"Martin Dobree!" ejaculated both in one breath.

"Yes, mesdemoiselles," I said, uncoiling the tress of hair as if it had
been a serpent, and going forward to greet them; "are you surprised to
see me?"

"Surprised!" echoed the elder. "No; we are amazed--petrified! However
did you get here? When did you come?"

"Quite easily," I replied. "I came on Sunday, and Tardif fetched me in
his own boat. If the weather had permitted, I should have paid you a
call; but you know what it has been."

"To be sure," answered Emma; "and how is dear Julia? She will be very
anxious about you."

"She was on the verge of a bilious attack when I left her," I said;
"that will tend to increase her anxiety."

"Poor, dear girl," she replied, sympathetically. "But, Martin, is this
young woman here so very ill? We have heard from the Renoufs she had had
a dangerous fall. To think of your being in Sark ever since Sunday, and
we never heard a word of it!"

No, thanks to Tardif's quiet tongue, and Mother Renouf's assiduous
attendance upon mam'zelle, my sojourn in the island had been kept a
secret; now that was at an end.

"Is that the young woman's hair?" asked Emma, as Tardif gathered
together the scattered tresses and tied them up quickly in a little
white handkerchief, out of their sight and mine. I saw them again
afterward. The handkerchief had been his wife's--white, with a border of
pink roses.

"Yes," I replied to her question, "it was necessary to cut it off. She
is dangerously ill with fever."

Both of them shrank a little toward the door. A sudden temptation
assailed me, and took me so much