had been of some use to
him was also a comforting thought. She fell asleep thinking how she
would try to nurse him and to take care of him until he was better.

When the doctor was able to talk more, he explained to Marjory that he
had been trying a dangerous experiment that day. He had heard the
dinner-bell ring, but was loath to leave his work, and in the end had
forgotten all about it, having become entirely absorbed in his
occupation. Something--perhaps a flaw in the glass--had caused one of
the tubes he was using to burst, and the chemicals burnt his hands. At
the sudden shock he started back, and in some way lost his balance and
fell, striking his head on a corner of the table and falling on to the
broken glass. He must have lost consciousness from the blow on his head,
and he could not tell how long he had lain as Marjory found him, but he
had felt so weak that every effort to rise made him faint again, and he
supposed he must have lain for a long time in a half-conscious
condition.

It was some weeks before he was quite himself again, and Marjory made a
most devoted nurse. She could hardly bear to leave him in case he might
want her when she was gone. Her feeling for him was a revelation to
herself, for she knew now that she really loved this uncle of hers whom
she had once thought to be hard and cruel and indifferent to her. She
considered him very much changed, but in reality the change was in
herself. Blanche's friendship, the kindness of the Foresters, Miss
Waspe's wise and careful teaching, had all combined to expand her really
warm and loving nature, which had threatened at one time to become
soured and warped for want of love's sunshine. Her uncle, as Mrs.
Forester had predicted on that memorable day in the plantation, had met
half-way any advances that she had made, and the result had been the
establishment of much happier relations between them. Now that he was
ill and dependent upon her, it was Marjory's delight to wait upon him,
and to fetch and carry for him, and her uncle was deeply touched by the
girl's whole-hearted devotion to him.

Marjory did not see so much of Blanche and the others after the doctor's
accident, for she did not join their expeditions, but she usually
managed to meet her friend once a day to exchange news. Herbert Morison
had now joined the company, and Alan was half inclined to resent this,
although the girls had made no objection. He came to see Marjory one
day--in fact, as