"Old soldiers know a little about surgery, Mr Robson," he said. "It will be a couple of hours before the doctor can get to the mine." "Three, sir." "Perhaps, and I may be of use." "I thought you would come, sir," said Robson, as he hurriedly appeased his hunger. "There's something wrong, too, at the mine, so one of the principal men says, but I didn't stop to hear what it was, for I was coming on here." "Curse the mine!" roared the Major; "let's think of poor Mr Reed. Ah, that's right, my dear," he cried sharply, as Dinah came into the room, looking very white, but firm and determined. "Ready, Mr Robson?" "Quite, sir," said the messenger, starting up. "Tell Martha, my dear?" Dinah nodded. She could not speak, and the next minute they were down by the river, and then ascended the mountain path, walking quickly along the narrow shelf, with thrill after thrill passing through the girl, as she went by the spot where Clive had struck the paper she had offered him from her hand; and this was supplemented by a suffocating feeling of despair as they reached the cool, dark, shady cutting, tunnelled out in the precipitous cliff. Here she glanced wildly at the spot where she had flown, as she believed, to her lover's arms, and rested in them for a moment, murmuring her delight that he had come. There was a heavy dull pulsation in her brain, as she passed on with her father out into the sunshine once again, deafening her to the words he spoke from time to time, while the mountain side seemed to swim around before her and the purple heather to rise and fall in waves till the gap was reached. That pathway to the mine chasm with all its host of terrible recollections brought her back to the present with a shock, and she walked down it clinging to her father's arm. She shivered and felt cold now as she gazed wildly before her. It was wonderfully changed, but the salient points were the same, and she hardly noted the many buildings which had sprung up, but gazed excitedly round, expecting moment by moment that her eyes would light upon the fierce mocking face of Sturgess; while by a strange confusion of ideas, the beating of her heart seemed to form itself into the heavy steps of the man from whom she fled panting with horror, coming in rapid pursuit. She started nervously again and again, as the figure of some sturdy workman passed before them, coming or going from different portions of the busy hive, where a steam-engine was panting heavily, or a huge pump toiled on tossing out the water from the depths of the mine to run gurgling along by the side of the path they followed. At last the new-looking offices were reached, and a group of workmen drew away to let them pass, while Dinah gazed round nervously, clinging more tightly now to her father's arm, feeling sure that in another moment or two she must face the man she feared. A spasm shot through her, as Robson exclaimed sharply-- "How is he?"