With that I stooped to pick up the books which she had cast on the ground at my feet, when, as ill-luck would have it, my watch and Walter's picture slipped from my bosom and fell on the grass, the picture face uppermost, of course. With a cry of wrath and anguish such as I never heard, she set her heel on the picture, and crushed it to atoms, and then turning to Betty, who had come up panting and full of amazement, she seized her by the arm, saying, in a stifled voice: "Come away from this wretch—this viper! Come away, before she shall poison you!" Then, as Betty hung back, and clung crying to me, scared by her aunt's violence. "Come with me, I say, or I will drag you away by force!" "I wont!" screamed Betty, all her passionate temper aroused in turn. And, wrenching away her arm: "You are a viper yourself, and a dragon too, Aunt Jemima, and I hate you!" "Yes, you have profited by your teaching!" said Lady Jemima, in the same strange, unnatural voice. "Come with me, I say!" And with that she seized the child by the shoulder, and by a sudden wrench, pulling her away, she dragged her toward the house. I was horrified, knowing how easily she was hurt, and sprang to the rescue, and at the same moment Betty gave a shrill cry of agony, and called out, "Mamma! Oh mamma! Aunt Jem is killing me!" Then looking up—oh, sight of horror!—I saw my Lady running down the stone steps of the terrace, and, catching her foot, fall headlong to the ground! I forgot all else—even my child, at that sight, and I was by her side in a moment, raising her head in my lap. Betty burst out crying—"Mamma is killed! Mamma is killed!" And threw herself on the ground by her side. Lady Jemima stood as if turned to stone. I saw in a moment that my Lady still breathed, and presently she opened her eyes. By this time Dick Gardener and his assistants came running up, and I made Ambrose, who is a great, strong, handy fellow, take up my Lady and carry her to her room, while I ran before to call Mrs. Judith and Mrs. Brewster. By this time all the servants were alarmed, and came running into the hall to meet us. I sent Mary to bring in Betty and put her to bed, and the others on different errands to get them out of the way, for somehow I seemed to have everything to do, and to think of everything at once. As for Lady Jemima, she had never moved from her place, and nobody seemed to think about her at all. By the time we got my Lady to her room, she was quite herself, and gave directions about everything she wanted, bidding Brewster undress her, and telling me to go and see to Betty and bring word how she was; for she feared she had been hurt in the struggle. I found Betty crying and sobbing in Mary's arms, who was trying to coax her to be undressed, instead of going to her mother, as she was determined to do.