"Yes," said Rona, simply, "I will tell you. You know something about it--how my uncle shut me up in a room, because--because--well, chiefly because I would not let the dreadful man, Levy, kiss me. I knew, somehow, that that man meant to do me harm--I could see in his eyes that he was wicked. But, of course, I was helpless--as helpless as a rabbit; and they were starving me, so that I was weak, and I was so afraid that I should not be able to refuse food if they brought it to me--at any price. So I decided that the only thing I could do was to commit suicide. There were railway lines outside the window, where I was locked up. So I said my prayers, and then I opened the window, stood upon the sill, shut my eyes, and jumped." Denzil uttered a cry. "Rona!" He dropped his head into his hands, and hid his face. "Yes," she said, quietly, "what else was there for me to do? But just below my room there was an iron balcony, and I fell upon that, all doubled up over the railing. Inside that room," solemnly continued the girl, "was David Smith. What do you think he was doing? He was in the act of drinking laudanum, with the very same idea. He, too, was in the hands of his enemies. He, too, like me, was starving. He had nobody in the world but his half-brother, who did not love him, and was ashamed of him. He saw only one way out, and he was going to die. But when I fell, he rushed out and dragged me in. I fought and struggled to get away, for, of course, I did not know who he was. But when I was quieter, and looked at him, I could see that he was a gentleman, though he was so terribly thin and starved. So we ran away together. I managed, with his help, to get down to the canal wharf, where he knew a man, who helped us to hide aboard a barge. But I had been so badly hurt that the effort was too much for me, and I don't remember much else, until I woke up in the Cottage Hospital." Silence, broken only by the humming of summer insects among the grass. Then Denzil asked, without raising his hidden face: "And have you never seen him since?" "Yes, once," replied Rona. "When?" asked the hollow voice. "One Sunday evening, just before he went away with Mr. Vronsky. He asked me to meet him, and I went to the old arbor while you were at evening service. He was unhappy and lonely, craving for love. He had been good to me, and I was sorry for him. And when he asked me to promise to be his wife when I grew up, I promised, because it seemed a little thing to do for him. I was happy with you, and he was all alone----" Her voice broke. At last Denzil spoke. "Then it was really he whom the old gardener saw, as he told us. Rona, the man who saved you is not called David Smith at all. He is my younger brother, Felix Vanston."