"Oh, Molly, are you much hurt? shall I go for the doctor?" asked Dick, coming to her side pale with fright. "Mac's right here at the door, ready saddled and bridled, and----" "Go for the doctor?" interrupted Molly. "No, indeed! It's very good in you, Dick, but I don't want him; I am going to Ion with the rest of you. I'm ready now." "You don't look much like it; you're as pale as a ghost," he said, Calhoun adding, "You'd better lie still for a while, Molly; Dick or I will take you over this evening, if you find yourself able to go then." "Thank you, but I'm going now," she answered with decision, getting up and taking Dick's arm. He helped her to the carriage, where Isadore, Virginia, and some of the younger ones sat waiting, and placed her in it. She wiped away her tears and tried to smile, while answering the questions and condolences of the others, and the party moved on. By the time Ion was reached, most of them had nearly forgotten Molly's accident, till Elsie remarked that she was looking pale, and asked if she were quite well. That brought out the story of her fall. Elsie heard it with grave concern but asked few questions as Molly seemed annoyed that the subject had been introduced. It was a habit of her mother's to scold her for awkwardness, and the child was sensitive on that point. When the young people had left and the older members of the Roselands family called, Elsie seized a favorable opportunity to speak of Molly's pale looks and urge the importance of calling in a physician that if there were any reason to apprehend serious results from the fall, measures might be promptly taken to avert the danger. "She can't have been seriously hurt," returned Enna coldly, "or she wouldn't have been ready to get into the carriage the next minute and ride over here." "By the way," said her father, "I haven't heard what caused her fall." "She's an awkward child, always tumbling about," returned Enna reddening. "Especially since she wears those fashionable boots with the high narrow heels," he remarked. "Had she them on when she fell?" Enna reluctantly admitted that such was the fact. "I'll send them into town to-day, with orders that full half the heel shall be taken off," he said with angry decision. CHAPTER THIRD. "'Tis a goodly scene-- Yon river, like a silvery snake, lays out His coil i' the sunshine lovingly." --HUNT. The family at Ion presently fell into the old routine of study, work and play, Elsie resuming the duties of governess; but as the heated term drew on, she and the little ones, especially the babe, began to droop. "You must go north for the summer," said Dr. Barton, "start as soon as possible and don't return till October." "Would you recommend the seashore?" asked Mr. Travilla. "H'm! that might answer very well, but mountain air would, I think, be better."