“Well, the ‘bearer’ was fired upon by the robbers, who were lurking on the Ridge.  He was wounded in the leg.  Luckily he was picked up by his friend, who was coming to meet him, and brought here as the nearest place.  He’s up-stairs in the spare bed in the spare room, with his friend, who won’t leave his side.  He won’t even have mother in the room.  They’ve stopped the bleeding with John’s ambulance things, and now, Kate, here’s a chance for you to show the value of your education in the ambulance class.  The ball has got to be extracted.  Here’s your opportunity.”

Kate looked at her sister curiously.  There was a faint pink flush on her pale cheeks, and her eyes were gently sparkling.  She had never seen her look so pretty before.

“Why not have sent Manuel for a doctor at once?” asked Kate.

“The nearest doctor is fifteen miles away, and Manuel is nowhere to be found.  Perhaps he’s gone to look after the stock.  There’s some talk of snow; imagine the absurdity of it!”

“But who are they?”

“They speak of themselves as ‘friends,’ as if it were a profession.  The wounded one was a passenger, I suppose.”

“But what are they like?” continued Kate.  “I suppose they’re like them all.”

Mrs. Hale shrugged her shoulders.

“The wounded one, when he’s not fainting away, is laughing.  The other is a creature with a moustache, and gloomy beyond expression.”

“What are you going to do with them?” said Kate.

“What should I do?  Even without John’s letter I could not refuse the shelter of my house to a wounded and helpless man.  I shall keep him, of course, until John comes.  Why, Kate, I really believe you are so prejudiced against these people you’d like to turn them out.  But I forget!  It’s because you like them so well.  Well, you need not fear to expose yourself to the fascinations of the wounded Christy Minstrel—­I’m sure he’s that—­or to the unspeakable one, who is shyness itself, and would not dare to raise his eyes to you.”

There was a timid, hesitating step in the passage.  It paused before the door, moved away, returned, and finally asserted its intentions in the gentlest of taps.

“It’s him; I’m sure of it,” said Mrs. Hale, with a suppressed smile.

Kate threw open the door smartly, to the extreme discomfiture of a tall, dark figure that already had slunk away from it.  For all that, he was a good-looking enough fellow, with a moustache as long and almost as flexible as a ringlet.  Kate could not help noticing also that his hand, which was nervously pulling the moustache, was white and thin.

“Excuse me,” he stammered, without raising his eyes, “I was looking for—­for—­the old lady.  I—­I beg your pardon.  I didn’t know that you—­the young ladies—­company—­were here.  I intended—­I only wanted to say that my friend—­” He stopped at the slight smile that passed quickly over Mrs. Hale’s mouth, and his pale face reddened with an angry flush.