sacrifice herself, but for whose purposes she had
striven to sacrifice her cousin! What would he do now? As he passed
from out of her sight down the hill, it seemed to her as though he
were rushing straight into some hell from which there could be no
escape.

She knew that her arm had been hurt in the fall, but for a while she
would not move it or feel it, being resolved to take no account of
what might have happened to herself. But when he had been gone some
ten minutes, she rose to her feet, and finding that the movement
pained her greatly, and that her right arm was powerless, she put up
her left hand and became aware that the bone of her arm was broken
below the elbow. Her first thought was given to the telling him of
this, or the not telling, when she should meet him below at the
house. How should she mention the accident to him? Should she lie,
and say that she had fallen as she came down the hill alone? Of
course he would not believe her, but still some such excuse as that
might make the matter easier for them all. It did not occur to her
that she might not see him again at all that day; and that, as far as
he was concerned, there might be need for no lie.

She started off to walk down home, holding her right arm steadily
against her body with her left hand. Of course she must give some
account of herself when she got to the house; but it was of the
account to be given to him that she thought. As to the others she
cared little for them. "Here I am; my arm is broken; and you had
better send for a doctor." That would be sufficient for them.

When she got into the wood the path was very dark. The heavens were
overcast with clouds, and a few drops began to fall. Then the rain
fell faster and faster, and before she had gone a quarter of a mile
down the beacon hill, the clouds had opened themselves, and the
shower had become a storm of water. Suffering as she was she stood up
for a few moments under a large tree, taking the excuse of the rain
for some minutes of delay, that she might make up her mind as to what
she would say. Then it occurred to her that she might possibly meet
him again before she reached the house; and, as she thought of it,
she began for the first time to fear him. Would he come out upon her
from the trees and really kill her? Had he made his way round, when
he got out of her sight, that he might fall upon her suddenly and do
as he had threatened? As the idea came upon her, she made a little
at