Nell, of Shorne Mills | Page 8

you have recovered--quite
recovered," she said, in a stately fashion. "Molly, get the spare room
ready for this gentleman. Eleanor, you might assist, I think! I will see
that the sheets are properly aired--nothing is more important in such a
case--and we will send for the doctor while you are retiring."

Molly plunged out, followed by Nell, and Mrs. Lorton seated herself
opposite the injured man, and, folding her hands, gazed at him as if she
were solely accountable for his welfare.
"I'm very much obliged to you, madame," he said, at last, and by no
means amiably. "May I ask to whom I am indebted for so
much--kindness?"
"My name is Lorton," said the dear lady, as if she had picked him up
and brought him in and given him brandy; "but I am a Wolfer."
He looked at her as if he thought she were mad, and Mrs. Lorton
hastened to explain.
"I am a near relative of Lord Wolfer."
"Oh, yes, yes; I beg your pardon," he said, with a touch of relief. "I
didn't understand for a moment."
"Perhaps you know Lord Wolfer?" she asked sweetly.
He shook his head.
"I've heard of him."
"Of course," she assented blandly. "He is sufficiently well known, not
to say famous. And your name--if I may ask?"
He frowned, and was silent for an instant.
"Vernon," he said reluctantly, "Drake Vernon."
"Indeed! The name seems familiar to me. Of the Northumberland
Vernons, I suppose?"
"No," he replied, rather shortly.
"No? There are some Vernons in Warwickshire, I remember," she
suggested.

He shook his head.
"I'm not connected with any of the Vernons," he said with a grim
courtesy.
Mrs. Lorton looked rather disappointed, but only for a moment; for,
foolish as she was, she knew a gentleman when she saw one, and this
Mr. Vernon, though not one of the Vernons, was evidently a gentleman
and a man of position. She smiled at him graciously.
"Sometimes one scarcely knows with whom one is connected," she said.
"If you will excuse me, I will go and see if your room is prepared. We
have only one servant--now," she sighed plaintively, "and my daughter
is young and thoughtless."
"She is not the latter, at any rate," he said, but coldly enough. "Your
daughter displayed extraordinary presence of mind----"
"My stepdaughter, I ought to explain," broke in Mrs. Lorton, who could
not endure the praise of any other than herself. "My late husband--I am
a widow, Mr. Vernon--left me his two children as a trust, a sacred trust,
which I hope I have discharged to the best of my ability. I will rejoin
you presently."
He rose and bowed, and then leaned back and closed his eyes, and
swore gently but thoroughly.
Mrs. Lorton returned in a few minutes with Molly.
"If you will come now? We have sent for the doctor."
"Thank you, thank you!" he said, and he went upstairs with them; but
he would not permit them to assist him to take off his coat, and sat on
the edge of the bed waiting with a kind of impatient patience for the
doctor.
By sheer good luck it was just about the time old Doctor Spence made
his daily appearance in Shorne Mills, and Nell, running up to the

crossway, caught him as he was ambling along on his old gray cob.
"Eh? what is it, my dear? That monkey of a brother got into mischief
again?" he said, laying his hand on her shoulder. "What? Stranger?
Broke his arm? Come, come; you're frightened and upset. No need, no
need! What's a broken arm! If it had been his neck, now!"
"I'm not frightened, and I'm not upset!" said Nell indignantly, but with
a smile. "I'm out of breath with running."
"And out of color, too, Nell. No need to run back, my dear. I'll hurry up
and see what's wrong."
He spoke to the cob, who understood every word and touch of his
master, and jolted down the steep road, and Nell followed slowly. She
was rather pale, as he had noticed, but she was not frightened. In all her
uneventful life nothing so exciting, so disturbing had happened as this
accident. It was difficult to realize it, to realize that a great strong man
had been cast helpless at her feet, that she had had his head on her lap;
she looked down at the patch on her dress and shuddered. Was she glad
or sorry that she had chanced to be near when he fell? As she asked
herself the question her conscience smote her. What a question to arise
in her mind! Of course she should be glad, very glad, to have been able
to help him. Then the man's face rose before her, and appealed to her