"`Then I should go bang to the pleece station, sir. They'd find out.' "I took the man's advice, and went to the nearest station, where I saw a sergeant, and stated my case, while he made notes in a book. "`Lady young?' he said. "`Twenty.' "I saw the man tighten his lips. "`Pretty?' "`Very pretty,' I said, emphatically. "The man's lips tightened still more, and I saw a faint smile as he spoke again. "`We'll do our best, sir, but this is a detective case. I should go to Scotland Yard if I was you. Young ladies will do these sort of things. Gets led away, you know.' "`What is it, Thomson?' said an officer whom I saw to be an inspector; and his coming stopped an indignant exclamation on my lips. "`Young lady missing,' said the sergeant. "`What description?' said the inspector, going to the desk. "I repeated it hastily, and the inspector turned sharply round to his subordinate and spoke to him in a low tone. He then turned to me. "`I'm very sorry, sir,' he said kindly. `Just take a seat. Any relative?' "`Daughter,' I panted; and then I read that in the man's eyes which made the whitewashed office seem to swim round; a deathly sickness overcame me, and all was blank. "The next thing I remember is feeling cold water splashing my face, and a kindly voice saying-- "`Come, come! hold up, sir. It's not so bad as that. There, drink some of this.' "I drank some of the water the inspector held to my lips, and two constables who had been supporting me drew back. "`I've been very ill,' I stammered, `and I am weak; but tell me, pray tell me the worst.' "`Well, sir, the worst is that the young lady's getting better, I hope. That was the last report, if it's the same. She was knocked down by a van on the fifteenth; concussion of the brain; small bone of arm broken; no means of identification; taken to Saint George's Hospital; last news, still insensible, but doctors hopeful.' "This principally read to me from a book which the inspector consulted. "`A cab, please, quick!' I faltered. "`Cab directly, Thomson,' said the inspector.--`There, I'll go with you.' "That inspector holds a place in my heart amongst those to whom I owe gratitude, for he was very kind. He took me, trembling and agitated, to the hospital, and there, after a short delay, we were taken to a bedside in a small, beautifully clean, and airy ward, where a doctor was sitting by my darling, who lay there very feeble, but with the light of reason beginning to shine once more from her gentle eyes. "She recognised me, but her voice was quite a whisper, and I could see that she was confused and puzzled as to her presence there. "I need not tell you of her rapid strides back to convalescence, nor more of her accident than that all she recollected was a warning cry as she crossed the road, and then seeming to wake in the hospital with me standing at her side.