"Oh," she said, "this poor little darling must have been in the wood all night. See, his paw is hurt; he came crying to the door this morning." "Let me take him to Guy," said Godfrey, eagerly. "He might notice him-- he has never come to himself." "Not till you have had some breakfast," said Cosy, with brisk decision. "The first principle of nursing is to take care of yourself." Godfrey was not capable just then of going back to first principles; but to be taken care of by Constancy was something new, and his spirit revived as she poured out coffee for him, and cut bread, and insisted on his eating his breakfast. Presently the others came down, and the vicar, who had been out, came back, and the story of the accident was pieced together. Florella had to tell how Guy had gone to fetch Jem Outhwaite back to his mother. "So good-natured of him," said Mrs Palmer. Godfrey had heard Rawdie howl before anything had happened, and Constancy, being out in the wood, had heard his shout for help when he came down to the river. "Old Cowperthwaite's in a fright," said the vicar. "He confesses that he had been used to keep `t' owd brig' repaired for his customers; but that since his notice, he'd let it alone. But I don't see now why it smashed so completely." "Nor I," said Godfrey. "I looked, and saw two or three figures--I couldn't count in the mist--struggling. Of course it was Guy dragging Jem over. But I thought I saw three." "Jem is wandering, and off his head," said the vicar. "He says `t' owd Guy' tried to throw him in." Godfrey looked very much startled; his colour changed, but he did not speak; and soon the question rose as to what next. He must telegraph at once to Ingleby, and also he said, faltering, "If-- if Guy--he would want Cuthbert Staunton." Mrs Palmer begged him to telegraph at once, and the doctor's view was that they had better wait a few hours, and--see how things went, before doing anything more. Florella heard, as in a dream. A numb dullness was on her spirit. Constancy came and told how Rawdie had been taken upstairs, and that Godfrey thought Guy had moved and touched him. "Poor little dog!" said Florella. Then Constancy, with unwonted confidence, told, in hushed accents, the story of her escape at Zwei-brucken, of her sense of the finality of death, and of Guy's words, "There is something beyond." "He _knew_ it," Constancy said, in her strong, emphatic tones. But even this did not stir Florella's soul; she wanted something _now_. Late in the evening, Cuthbert Staunton arrived, full of anxious concern, and it fell to Florella to give him supper, and to answer his questions as to what had happened. She went through it all, in a matter-of-fact voice; but she knew that Cuthbert knew what it all implied. There was a little silence, and then she suddenly said-- "It has been all in vain!"