"It looks as though it had blood upon it," she thought, as she went on her way; "and what an evil-looking man he is! I wonder how Sir Edward can endure to have him in his house. But they say he is always for keeping well with whatever party is uppermost. I am glad that Colonel Kirke did not take notice of my basket. I don't know what I should have said to account for some of the things in it. Poor Jack! I trust he is not very much hurt. It is unlucky that he should take just this busy time for his mishap. I fear I shall not be able to go to Dame Sprat's at all to-day. They have food enough to last till to-morrow, that is one comfort." When Winifred arrived at home, she found both pain and pleasure awaiting her. The pain was the news that Jack was indeed very much hurt, having broken his arm and bruised himself severely. He had climbed the tree to the magpie's nest, secured a pair of the young ones, and come half way down with his prize, when one of the dry limbs gave way, and he came to the ground, killing the poor young birds in his fall. The vicar, who possessed considerable knowledge of surgery, happened to be riding by at the time, saw the tumble, and had been the first on the spot. He carried the poor boy into the house, set his arm, and gave his mother directions for his treatment, adding a special injunction to let the patient have no food stronger than gruel or weak broth till he came again. This injunction seemed to poor Jack a greater calamity even than his broken arm. He was very fond of good things. He remembered the nice jellies and cordials, the beaten-up eggs and roasted fowls, which had been prepared for Winifred when she was slowly recovering from her long fever, and he had comforted himself with the thought of all these dainties for his prospective pain and confinement. The water-gruel law was a terrible blow, and poor Jack was in very low spirits indeed. He had the additional discomfort of knowing that his trouble was all his own fault, for he had been strictly forbidden to climb the tree, and he had waited till his grandfather was away in the barley field, and his mother busy in the dairy, before he made the attempt. As his grandfather said, he was bold in the wrong place and cowardly in the wrong place. He was not afraid to disobey, and he was afraid to do a necessary errand.