But, by the time they arrived, Dexie had disappeared past George’s Island with the soldier, and Hugh found the vessel’s deck alive with a set of men capable of the darkest deeds that drunken sailors ever perpetrated.  Hugh’s inquiries were not understood, of course; but believing the worst, he demanded to be allowed on board the vessel.  This the captain, who now appeared, and who was about as drunk as his crew, refused to allow.  Hugh urged and argued in vain, the idea of a young lady being aboard the vessel being hailed with uproarious shrieks of merriment by the vessel’s crew.  Hugh was at last obliged to give up in despair, and he rowed back with all speed towards the city, to secure the aid of the police in his search.

This was the darkest hour Hugh had ever known.  The strain on his nerves, coupled with the anxiety of the previous weeks, was more than he could bear, and when, with the assistance of two men armed with authority, he searched the vessel for any trace of Dexie’s presence, and found none, his brain seemed to collapse, and the brass-buttoned officers carried him back in their boat to Halifax in a state of unconsciousness.

About midnight, with a doctor in attendance, he was carefully carried to Mr. Gurney’s in a state of delirium.

The next morning the startling news was brought into the Sherwood household that Hugh McNeil was down with brain fever, and that the doctor had not left the house since midnight.

Why did they all look at Dexie in such a horrified manner?  Was she to blame?  Their looks implied as much.  She fought against the implication inwardly, but made no remark whatever as the news was being discussed.

But, as the day wore on, the unnatural stillness of the house seemed to weigh her down with its oppressiveness, and she caught herself listening to every sound with strained ears and every nerve on the alert.

She did not dare venture into the next door to make inquiries, not knowing how much they might be blaming her for Hugh’s sudden illness; and the added trouble and anxiety his sickness necessarily caused, left no time for the Gurney girls to run in with a report of his condition.  Consequently, when Lancy appeared about nine o’clock in the evening, Dexie’s eyes asked the question her lips had not power to form.

“Hugh is no better—­worse, if possible,” and Lancy’s face was as white as Dexie’s own.  “He keeps calling for you in his delirium; he seems to think you are drowned or worse, and reaches out to catch you.  It takes two to hold him sometimes.”

“Oh, Lancy! am I to blame?” she said, bursting into tears.  “I have had such a horrible day with my thoughts.  I don’t see how I could help it; yet it was my fault, I suppose.”

“Well, under the circumstances, I don’t see how you could have done differently, Dexie; but don’t fret about it.  It is an uncomfortable affair all round, to be sure.  I can’t help feeling proud of you the way you braved it out rather than give your promise; but, of course, it was hard on Hugh.”