uld not raise a feather, and those about his bed
despaired of detaining the spirit fluttering to be free. The servants
were ready to raise the "keen," the cook sought the salt for the
death-plate. But Colonel John, mindful of many a man found living on
the field hours after he should, by all the rules, have died, did not
despair; and little by little, though the patient knew nothing of the
battle which was maintained for his life, the Colonel's skill and
patience prevailed. The breathing grew stronger and more regular; and,
though it seemed likely that fever would follow and the end must remain
uncertain, death, for the moment, was repelled.

Now, he who possesses the habit of command in emergencies, who, when
others are distraught and wring their hands, knows both what to do and
how to do it, cannot fail to impress the imagination. Unsupported by
Flavia, unaided by her deft fingers, Colonel John might have done less:
yet she who seconded him the most ably, who fetched and carried for
him, and shrank from no sight of blood or wound, was also the one who
yielded him the fullest meed, and succumbed the most completely to his
ascendancy. Flavia's feelings towards her cousin had been altering hour
by hour; and this experience of him hastened her tacit surrender. She
had seen him in many parts. It had been hers to witness, by turns, his
defeat and his triumph. She had felt aversion, born of his unwelcome
appearance in the character of her guardian, yield to a budding
interest, which his opposition to her plans, and his success in foiling
them, had converted anew into disdain and hatred.

But in all strong passions lurk the seeds of the opposite. The object
of hatred is the object of interest. So it had been in her case. The
very lengths to which she had allowed herself to be carried against him
had revolted her, and pity had taken the place of hatred. Nor pity
alone. For, having seen how high he could rise in adversity, what
courage, what patience, what firmness he could exert--for her sake who
persecuted him--she now saw also how naturally he took the lead of
others, how completely he dominated the crowd. And while she no longer
marvelled at the skill with which he had baffled the Admiral and
Cammock, and thwarted plans which she began to appraise at their value,
she found herself relying upon him, as she watched him moving to and
fro, to an extent which startled and frightened her.

Was it only that morning that she had