"A horse, a horse! Quick! My boots!" I kissed her hand--for I had not got any farther than that--and began to ride towards Kingston. I did not care for the motion of trotting, so I put my horse at a gallop, when all of a sudden he stumbled, and in an instant I was lying on the ground in front of the Duke of Kingston's house. Miss Chudleigh happened to be at the window, and seeing me thrown to the ground uttered a shriek. I raised my head and she recognized me, and hastened to send some of her people to help me. As soon as I was on my feet I wanted to go and thank her, but I could not stir, and a valet who knew something of surgery examined me, and declared that I had put out my collar-bone and would require a week's rest. The young lady told me that if I liked to stay in her house the greatest care should be taken of me. I thanked her warmly, but begged her to have me taken home, as I should not like to give her so much trouble. She immediately gave the necessary orders, and I was driven home in a comfortable carriage. The servants in charge would not accept any money, and I saw in the incident a proof of that hospitality for which the English are famed, although they are at the same time profoundly egotistic. When I got home I went to bed, and sent for a surgeon, who laughed when I told him that I had put out a bone. "I'll wager it is nothing more than a sprain. I only wish it was put out that I might have some chance of shewing my skill." "I am delighted," I said, "not to be in a position to call for that amount of talent, but I shall have a high opinion of you if you set me up in a short time." I did not see Pauline, much to my astonishment. I was told she had gone out in a sedan-chair, and I almost felt jealous. In two hours she came in looking quite frightened, the old house-keeper having told her that I had broken my leg, and that the doctor had been with me already. "Unhappy wretch that I am!" she exclaimed as she came to my bedside, "'tis I that have brought you to this." With these words she turned pale and almost fell in a swoon beside me. "Divine being!" I cried, as I pressed her to my breast, "it is nothing; only a sprain." "What pain that foolish old woman has given me! "God be praised that it is no worse! Feel my heart." "Oh, yes! I felt it with delight. It was a happy fall for me." Fastening my lips on hers, I felt with delight that our transports were mutual, and I blessed the sprain that had brought me such bliss. After these ecstasies I felt that Pauline was laughing. "What are you laughing at, sweetheart?" "At the craft of love, which always triumphs at last." "Where have you been?" "I went to my old jeweler's to redeem my ring, that you might have a souvenir of me; here it is." "Pauline! Pauline! a little love would have been much more precious to me than this beautiful ring."