"Every bone in me is broke, my lady, if I may judge by the feel of 'em. This comes of them sheds." "Be quiet, Parkins," said Mr. Cray, who had succeeded in finding a wicker-cased bottle containing some brandy-and-water. "Help me to raise your lady a little." Parkins contrived to give her help in spite of the damaged bones, but the moment Lady Oswald was touched she shrieked out terribly. "Let me alone! let me alone! Is that Mark Cray? How kind you are to come to see after me, Mr. Cray? Did you come from Hallingham?" "We were in the same train, Lady Oswald; I and Caroline. I am very glad that it happened to be so." "To be sure; I begin to remember: you were to return tonight. I--I feel very faint." Mark succeeded in getting her to drink some brandy-and-water, but she positively refused to be touched, though she said she was in no pain. He thought she was exhausted, the effect of the shock, and left her to attend to other sufferers, who perhaps wanted his aid more than Lady Oswald. Then, after awhile, the carriage came up, bringing the help from Hallingham. Mark Cray saw Dr. Davenal with the greatest pleasure, and he took him at once towards Lady Oswald. "Are many hurt?" inquired the doctor. "Astonishingly few," was the reply; "and the hurts are of a very minor character, I fancy. A broken arm is about the worst." "And what of Lady Oswald?" "I don't think she's hurt at all: she's suffering from the shock. A little exhausted; but that's natural." "To a woman of her age such a shock is no light thing, Mark. However, we must do the best we can for everybody." "There has been enough groaning--if that's anything to judge by," said Mark; "groaning and complaining too." "Glad to hear it," said the doctor. "When people can complain, the damage is not very extensive." "Parkins, for one, keeps protesting that every bone's broken. But she ran out of the way pretty quickly when I told her the engine might start up again." The doctor smiled, and they came up to Lady Oswald. Oswald Cray had found her out, and was sitting on the bank beside her. She spoke just a word or two to him, but seemed, as Mr. Cray _had_ said, exhausted. Oswald Cray rose to resign his place to Dr. Davenal, and he took his brother aside. "Is she much hurt, Mark?" "O no," replied Mark. "It has shaken her, of course; but she has been talking as fast as I can." He spoke with singular confidence. In the first place. Mark Cray was naturally inclined to look on the bright side of things, to feel confident himself in the absence of any palpable grounds for doing so; in the second, he did not think it at all mattered what information on the point was given to Oswald.