"There is no doctor in the village," said Mr Grey, "but you can save time nevertheless, as his house is close to the railway station." "Thank you, oh! thank you so much," Moore and I exclaimed together, but that was all we had time for, for by now the two men were busied in lifting my brother, with the least possible jar to the poor foot, preparatory to carrying him outside. They were both strong men, and their gentleness and deftness, especially perhaps as regarded Mr Grey, struck me with admiration. I followed the little cortege meekly enough to the fateful door in the wall. Here they halted, Mr Grey requesting me to unlock it with a key which he had handed to me before lifting Moore off the ground. Then we all passed through. "Close it, if you please," said our host, for such he was, however unwillingly. "Draw it to, that is to say, and leave the key in the lock. It cannot shut itself." I did as I was bid, and we proceeded down the road till we had reached an unsuspicious distance from the entrance in the wall, sufficiently near the corner which the fly must pass on its way to the station, for it to be easy to attract the driver's attention without any appearance of collusion. Then they placed Moore in as easy a position as possible; happily the excitement of all that had passed, aided by the stimulus of the brandy and water which Mr Grey had brought with him in a flask, had quite revived the patient, and he declared that the pain was much less severe. "I am sorry to leave you," said the older man, as he lifted his hat in farewell, "but--considering everything, primarily of course your own wishes--it cannot be helped." "And it will only be for a very few minutes that you will be alone," added the younger one. "I do not mind in the least," I replied. "I only wish, O Mr Grey,"-- involuntarily almost the name escaped me, and at its sound he stopped and half moved--"will you not allow us to apologise to you--we shall probably not have another opportunity of doing so--for our unwarrantable, our impertinent--" (at this word I felt, rather than saw, that Moore grew red) "intrusion? I do not know how to express what I feel, nor how to thank you for your kindness." "My dear young lady," replied the hermit, "pray do not take the matter so much to heart. Mr--my friend here, has explained it to me. I cannot see that you personally have anything whatever to reproach yourself with, and as for your brother--why," and for the first time the cold, almost hard, voice softened, "I know well the love of adventure and--and--" he seemed at a loss to find a word, evidently unwilling to supply so hurting a one as "curiosity"--"and all that sort of thing of young folk. You may rely on us to keep this affair to ourselves, and I trust the doctor's report will relieve your anxiety." Then, for the second time, he lifted his hat, and in another moment both he and his companion had disappeared.