been there. A policeman was killed just beside us. There was a man with a
revolver running amuck. He just missed French by a hair-breadth."

Helena exclaimed in horror.

"You see--one puts the best face on it--but it might have been a terrible
business. But what I shall always remember most--is your part in it"

Their eyes met, hers half shy, half repentant, his full of a kindness she
had never yet seen there.




CHAPTER VIII


"Oh, what a jolly day! We've had a glorious ride," said Helena, throwing
herself down on the grass beside Mrs. Friend. "And how are you? Have you
been resting--or slaving--as you were _expressly_ forbidden to do?"

For Mrs. Friend had been enjoying a particularly bad cold and had not
long emerged from her bedroom, looking such a pitiful little wreck, that
both Lord Buntingford and Helena had been greatly concerned. In the five
weeks that had now elapsed since her arrival at Beechmark she had stolen
her quiet way into the liking of everybody in the house to such an extent
that, during the days she had been in bed with a high temperature, she
had been seriously missed in the daily life of the place, and the whole
household had actively combined to get her well again. Mrs. Mawson had
fed her; and Lucy Friend was aghast to think how much her convalescence