"'Pretty soon, Jack,' says he again, 'ye must help me carry her to the mill this morning, before the village folks are astir; and don't tell them that she's there, or whence she came. She's my own, and her past is all gone for ever; God has sent her to me for my own. I shall make her love me as I now love her, and no other shall have any part in her. I will be to her all that she has lost, and more; and I will cherish her always and make her happy. And when the village folks find out that I have her (as soon of course they must), they shall be told that she is a good fairy come to bring me fortune and delight. I'd say that she rose up one morning out of the deep clear pool just above the mill-race; and that though appearing as a human being, she is in very truth not mortal, but has consented to live with me so long as I continue worthy of her companionship. But when the time comes--which God forbid it ever should!--that I prove unworthy, then shall she vanish back to her natural abode, and I be more desolate than before she came. And as for this necklace,' says he, 'it is a talisman; and should fate ever separate us, yet this be left me, 'twill be a pledge that'...." "What's happened?" IV. The yarn broke off abruptly enough. Poyntz and I had both started to our feet, our eyes and ears straining towards the mill-stream, where little Peter had during the last hour been quietly fishing. The sound of a quick scramble, a heavy plunge, and simultaneously a lusty scream, had sharply broken the repose of the summer afternoon. "'Tis the brat has toppled in!" cried Poyntz, the sunburnt ruddiness of his complexion turning to a tawny sallow hue. "He can't swim; haste ye lower down, sir; I'll to the pool; but if as he's carried over the fall, ye'll stop him at the rapid." We had already set off on a run towards the bank, and we now separated in accordance with Poyntz's suggestion. I saw no more of the latter, being wholly absorbed in carrying out my part of the programme; and in a few moments I was standing panting beside the rushing water, trying to select the best point from which to take my plunge. Just then I heard a swift rustling step behind me, and there was Agatha, her lovely face and eyes aglow with terrified excitement. Then it passed through my mind that she had always evinced a particular tenderness and affection for poor little Peter; and at the thought I must confess that my resolve to save him at all risks became tenfold as strong as it had been before.