So he sat, till he was startled by the sound of wheels upon the gravel drive. He went to the door and looked out through the glass panel. A carriage was coming slowly up the drive, followed by a man and woman on horseback, Captain Standish and Miss Porkman. Then came a horse led by a couple of men--a black horse, that walked lame, and hung his head dejectedly. Where was his wife among all these? He opened the door and went out upon the broad stone steps. The carriage came up at a foot pace. A man got out--little Mr. Namby, the village surgeon. He came up the steps to Mr. Piper. Captain Standish dismounted and joined them. Even in the autumn dusk Mr. Piper could see that his foe was ashy pale, and moved by some violent agitation. Standish tried to speak, but the words would not come. ‘You tell him,’ he said to Mr. Namby, and then turned his back upon them both, and leant against one of the pillars of the portico, with his face hidden. ‘My dear Mr. Piper,’ began the surgeon, tremulously, ‘something dreadful has happened.’ ‘I know it,’ answered Piper, curtly. ‘You have seen a great deal of domestic trouble--your first wife’s long illness; but--I--I fear this is worse than anything you have had to go through.’ ‘It is,’ said Piper. ‘But how is this?’ asked the surgeon, with a puzzled air. ‘Has any messenger come on to you? Have you heard----?’ ‘Have I heard of what?’ ‘The accident in the hunting-field, Mrs. Piper’s fall?’ ‘Oh, she has had a fall, has she?’ said Mr. Piper, with a most extraordinary coolness. Mr. Namby thought he had gone suddenly mad. ‘Yes, a very bad fall. I fear it may be fatal. Will you send for her maid, or some one? We are going to lift her out of the carriage. She is quite helpless. She must be carried to her room.’ Vanessa Porkman had alighted from her horse, and came up the steps to Mr. Piper. ‘Oh,’ she cried, ‘it is too dreadful--a judgment upon us for going after the hounds without your knowledge--or pa’s. It wasn’t I who proposed it--indeed it wasn’t, dear Mr. Piper, but I feel myself guilty for all that. Can you ever forgive me?’ ‘Oh, you’ve been hunting, have you, my wife and you--foolish of her, for she was never on a horse till I--I beg pardon--till Captain Standish gave her one,’--this in tones loud enough for the ear of the Captain, who stood close by. Then Mr. Piper went down the steps and saw his wife lifted out of the carriage, and carried slowly and carefully into the house. There were two doctors, Mr. Namby, and Dr. Milroyd, from Great Yafford, who had been in the field when Erebus balked himself at a bullfinch, and rolled into the ditch with his rider beneath him. Bella’s maid and the butler both assisted. There was no lack of aid, but Mr. Piper stood on the steps and saw the little lifeless figure in the dark green habit carried past him, and offered no help.