The hush that lay upon the room was unbroken save by the agitated breaths of all present. "Is there no hope?" whispered Mr. Ferris to Dr. Tredwell, as, seeing no immediate prospect of change, they sought for seats at the other side of the room. "No; the wound is strangely like that which Mrs. Clemmens received. He will rouse, probably, but he will not live. Our only comfort is that in this case it is not a murder." The District Attorney made a gesture in the direction of Imogene. "How came she to be here?" he asked. Dr. Tredwell rose and drew him from the room. "It needs some explanation," he said; and began to relate to him how Mr. Orcutt was escorting Miss Dare to the gate when the bough fell which seemed likely to rob him of his life. Mr. Ferris, through whose mind those old words of the widow were running in a way that could only be accounted for by the memories which the scene within had awakened--"May the vengeance of Heaven light upon the head of him who has brought me to this pass! May the fate that has come upon me be visited upon him, measure for measure, blow for blow, death for death!"--turned with impressive gravity and asked if Miss Dare had not been hurt. But Dr. Tredwell shook his head. "She is not even bruised," said he. "And yet was on his arm?" "Possibly, though I very much doubt it." "She was standing at his side," uttered the quiet voice of Mr. Byrd in their ear; "and disappeared when he did, under the falling branch. She must have been bruised, though she says not. I do not think she is in a condition to feel her injuries." "You were present, then," observed Mr. Ferris, with a meaning glance at the detective. "I was present," he returned, with a look the District Attorney did not find it difficult to understand. "Is there any thing you ought to tell me?" Mr. Ferris inquired, when a moment or so later the coroner had been drawn away by a friend. "I do not know," said Byrd. "Of the conversation that passed between Miss Dare and Mr. Orcutt, but a short portion came to our ears. It is her manner, her actions, that have astonished us, and made us anxious to have you upon the spot." And he told with what an expression of fear she had fled from her interview with Mr. Orcutt in the library, and then gave, as nearly as he could, an account of what had passed between them before the falling of the fatal limb. Finally he said: "Hickory and I expected to find her lying crushed and bleeding beneath, but instead of that, no sooner was the bough lifted than she sprang to her knees, and seeing Mr. Orcutt lying before her insensible, bent over him with that same expression of breathless awe and expectation which you see in her now. It looks as if she were waiting for him to rouse and finish the sentence that was cut short by this catastrophe." "And what was that sentence?"