"A thorn would not give you so much pain." "Well, it may be a little splinter; I think it is. Go on, please, and don't say anything about it." "Not to your sister?" "Oh, dear me, of course not!" she said with vexation. "Anything of this sort makes Kitty quite ill, don't you understand? Please go to the villa, I shall be there presently." "But I am not going to the villa," said Jack quietly; "I am going to look at your hand." "I can take it out myself." "_If_ you please--" Bice was evidently unaccustomed to have her own will set aside; she stared at him in amazement, and a bright flush which looked like resistance rose to her cheek. Perhaps, however, she thought resistance undignified, or perhaps Jack's waiting attitude took too much for granted; for after a momentary struggle she hastily unwrapped her hand and silently stretched it out. He could hardly repress the exclamation which rose to his lips. It was cruelly bruised and torn, and the suffering must have been great. "How could you have done it?" he said reproachfully. "I was standing on a stone to gather a little flower which I saw in a bush, and the stone slipped. I fell on my hand, and I think something caught in it and ran in." She held her hand steadily for his inspection, but she had grown pale, and to tell the truth, the prospect of his amateur surgery made him very uncomfortable. He turned in his mind the possibilities of finding a doctor, but it was most improbable that one lived within a moderate distance, and the splinter was momentarily increasing the irritation. She would not hear of getting help from the house, and Jack hastily determined to do the best he could for her, uttering a fervent mental hope that she would not faint. He need not have feared. After the first sharp pain had made her shrink, she let her hand lie quite passive, and although persistently keeping her face turned away, from first to last uttered no sound. Perhaps this self-restraint made him nervous, perhaps he was inexperienced in the work, for he knew through every nerve in his own body that he was giving her sharp and even unnecessary pain. When the splinter was drawn out, his own face was nearly as white as hers. The girl noticed this as he straightened himself. "I am afraid you disliked it as much as Kitty," she said remorsefully. "It was clumsy work," said Jack; "I know that I hurt you horribly." "Never mind," said Bice. "Chiara shall put some of her healing herbs, and I think the pain is all over." Was it so indeed? Did nothing whisper to her of another pain, a deeper smart, which this very moment was bringing? What sweet and tremulous pang seemed to smite her in the silence which fell for a moment? A moment--no more--and yet there are moments which go on for years. Bice drew back her hand without another word of thanks.