"I believe, after all, I am a little tired; I strained my wrist slightly in the brook." "Let me get some arnica for you; do, Hugh." "Oh, no! the strain is very slight. It will be all over in a day or two." "Was there really any danger, Hugh?" "Yes; I think it right that you should know it, because you may be tempted to do the same thing again. The water was deep there, and the brook swollen by the last rains; the current was very strong, and there is a fall just below. But your greatest danger was from the sharp jagged rocks; when I plunged after you I cannot express how alarmed I was!" Bessie covered her face with her hands. "It was all owing to my obstinate wilfulness," she said in a low tone, "Oh, Hugh! can you forgive me?" "Do not think of it any more." said her cousin, "but come down and give me some music." "What! In this old wrapper, Hugh?" "There speaks feminine vanity. As though I knew a wrapper from a dress?" So Bessie went down to the sitting-room, and, taking the cover off her harp, sat down in her old wrapper to play for Hugh. When she was in the mood she brought very spirited music out of the silver strings, but to-night she played soft airs, and minor chords, weaving in among them Hugh's favorite plaintive melodies, with her now wild improvisations between. At last she rose and replaced the harp-cover. "It is late; I must go," she said. "They will be coming home before long, Of course _you_ won't say anything about our ride, Hugh. It would only frighten Aunt Faith. But I have decided not to go again; what happened to-night seems like a warning." "Superstitious, Bessie?" "No; I am only trying to stop before I drag you into any more danger. Think how much trouble I have given you, too! And, oh, Hugh! you had to pay that farmer," added Bessie, as the idea came to her for the first time. "Run upstairs, Brownie; it is late." "I shall not run, Hugh. I know very well you had to pay him that ten dollars, and I have robbed you of your last cent," said Bessie tragically. "Oh, what a dismal face! Run, before Aunt Faith comes." "And the picture you were going to buy," said Bessie, with tearful eyes. "Foolish child! as if I cared for the picture; when I am rich I shall buy a whole gallery. Now run; I positively hear their voices at the gate." As Bessie went away with a full heart, Aunt Faith, Sibyl, and Graham Marr came up the garden-walk and entered the house. "You came away early, Hugh," said Aunt Faith; "do you feel well?" "I am tired, aunt; that is all." "It was a pleasant party," continued Aunt Faith; "did you not think so, Sibyl?" "I enjoyed it!" said Sibyl quietly. "It was a rare feast," said Graham; "one seldom meets such a combination of aesthetic talent in Westerton." "Mr. Leslie was not there, however," said Hugh. "Ah,--no. But ministers are not generally cultivated musicians," said Graham, in his slow way. "They have not the time to,--ah,--to muse upon the mystery of harmony."