sked anxiously.

"No, darling. I am well, but--" she paused, as though listening, and then
for the first time Esther noticed the sounds of strange voices and many
footsteps overhead, and with the same, memory returned.

"Penelope!" she cried frantically. "Oh, Penelope! where is she?
Is she--is she--oh,"--burying her face in her hands as memory returned to
her--"I thought she was killed--I saw her--under their hoofs. I saw them
trampling on her--is she--killed?" in a hushed, gasping voice.

Mademoiselle laid a soothing hand on her. "No, dear, she is alive and
safe. She is badly injured, but she will recover, please God. The doctor
is with her now, and Miss Ashe, so I came down to see my poor Esther.
My child, we have much to be thankful for that things are not worse.
It might have been--"

"Oh, Mademoiselle, Mademoiselle," cried Esther, "I can never tell you how
bad I have been--" but she found herself clasped in a warm embrace that
told of pity and love and sympathy unbounded. Mademoiselle asked no
questions, but the whole story had to be told. Esther knew she would know
no rest until she had unburthened her heart and humbled herself, and was
possessed by a feeling that if she did not do it then she might never
again be able to. And Mademoiselle, with complete understanding, let her
talk.

"I saw her fall. I heard her scream. She tried to get up, but was
knocked down again. She called 'Esther, Esther,' but I couldn't help
her--and I thought she was being killed. Oh, Mademoiselle, I shall never
be able to forget it--never, never, never!" and Esther clung to her,
shaken with terror and the shock of all she had gone through.

"Darling, you must try not to dwell upon it. You must try to be strong
and brave, and get well, for Penelope will need you, and Angela and Poppy
will need you--and Guard--"

"Oh! Guard?" gasped Esther, afraid to ask the question which filled her
mind.

"Do you think you can bear to see him? He will be so much happier if he
may be with you."

"Then he is--all right?" breathlessly.

"No, darling, not all right. He has come out of the battle alive, which
is more than one could have dared to hope; but he is badly injured.
You will not be shocked by the sight of bandages, will you? Guard looks a
poor old battered warrior at present, but we hope he will soon recover."

A battered warrior indeed did he look as he came creeping, limping in,
his head bound up in bandages, one le