med to know just what
needed to be done in this emergency. She cut away the sleeve of Violet's
dress and underclothing, thus releasing the wounded arm from its painful
bondage, and then wrapped it in wet cloths to reduce the swelling and
allay the inflammation.

Twenty minutes after a skillful surgeon was on the spot, ether was
administered to his patient, then the broken bone was quickly and nicely
set, the arm bandaged, and Doctor Ashley declared that it would be as
good as new in the course of three or four weeks.

When Violet came to herself again, the agonizing pain which she had
suffered before the administration of ether was gone, and though she was
weak and feverish, she was comparatively comfortable.

But the shock to her system had been severe, and she was obliged to keep
her bed for several days, although she told Mrs. Davis and Bertha that
it was simply a pleasure to be sick when every one was so kind and
attentive to her.

Of course Mr. Lawrence did not see her during this time, and he began to
be conscious of an oppressive feeling of loneliness; the house seemed
empty, desolate, without her.

This sensation followed him everywhere he went; at table he could not
eat as usual, while his glance constantly roved to Violet's empty chair.
In his library, where usually he could find plenty of entertainment, and
even in Bertha's sitting-room, where he spent much time trying to amuse
her, and to make up to her as much as possible for the loss of her
companion, he was conscious of something wanting.

"If I miss her like this for a few days, what shall I do if she ever
goes away to stay?" he asked himself one evening, when he was feeling
more lonely than usual.

A wave of hot color mounted to his brow; then receding as quickly, left
his face blanched with a sudden discovery and an unaccountable feeling
of dread.

"What is all this?" he muttered, half angrily; "am I, after all these
years, going to lose my head over a girl not half my age?"

He sprang to his feet and began to pace the floor with a nervous,
uncertain tread, while during the next few days he appeared as if
oppressed by some heavy burden.

Before a week had passed from the day of Violet's accident, she was up
and anxious to resume her usual duties.

Mr. Lawrence went up stairs, one morning, to Bertha's room to amuse the
child, as he had been doing of late, and found the young teacher sitting
beside her pupil at the piano, trying to direct h