ch, which, from an
instinct of self-preservation, I had kept in my hand.

"What is it?"

"An iron wrench. I struck Tom Thornton over the head with it, and he
fell from the drivers box on the backs of the horses."

"O!" groaned she.

"It could not be helped, Kate."

"I hope he is not much hurt."

"I hope not; but I can't help it if he is," I replied, desperately, for
I had many fears in regard to the result, and was not half so confident
of the future as I tried to appear. "There is a car, Kate," I added,
throwing the wrench away. "Now be calm, and try to look as though
nothing had happened."

She covered her face with a thick veil, and we entered the horse car.
Riding in silence for a long hour, we reached the Park, where, taking a
stage, we proceeded to the hotel. It was nearly eleven o'clock when we
went into the parlor, where Kate sank exhausted upon a sofa. I found
that Mrs. Macombe had retired, but I called her up. The poor girl's
nerves were fearfully unstrung, but the good woman ministered to her
like an angel. She slept with her, and was all that a loving mother
could be to her.

For my own part, I ate a hearty supper, and went to bed. It was not
without the fear that the police would visit me before morning, that I
lay on my couch thinking of the startling events of the evening. Yet, as
I repeated my prayer that night, I felt that I had done no more than my
duty--my duty to Kate, my mother, and myself. I would have given half
the money in my belt to know whether Tom Thornton was dead or alive. I
had not injured him from malice or for revenge, only in self-defence;
and I felt that a just God would burden him, rather than me, with the
consequences of the blow I had struck. I went to sleep at last, with
the prayer in my heart, that Tom Thornton would recover from the injury
he had received.

Kate was quite ill in the morning; but Mrs. Macombe cared for her
tenderly, and assured me nothing serious would result from the terror
and excitement to which she had been subjected. After breakfast I
hastened to the store of McKim & Loraine. Kate's uncle had returned the
preceding evening, and I waited till he came down town. In as few words
as possible, I told him what Kate's situation had been at the house of
her step-mother, what abuse she had suffered, and in what manner she had
escaped. He was indignant, and insisted that she should immediately make
his house her home.

Then I showed him the note signed wi