But that did not satisfy Columbine. "Who brought them in?" she said.
"Who gathered them?"

Mrs. Peck hesitated momentarily, almost as if she did not want to
answer. Then, half defiantly, "Why, Rufus, to be sure," she said.

"Rufus!" A great hot wave of crimson suddenly suffused Columbine's
face--a pitiless, burning blush that spread tingling over her whole
body.

She lay very still while it lasted, and Mrs. Peck set down the cup and,
rising energetically, began to tidy the room.

At length, faintly, the girl spoke again: "Aunt Liza!"

Mrs. Peck turned. There was a curious look in her eyes, a look half
stern and yet half compassionate. "There, my dear, that'll do," she
said. "I think you've talked enough. The doctor said as I was to keep
you very quiet, especially when you began to get back your senses. Shut
your eyes, do, and go to sleep!"

But Columbine's eyes remained open. "I'm not sleepy," she said. "And I
must speak to you. I want to know--I must know"--she faltered painfully,
but forced herself to continue--"Rufus--did he--did he really come
back--that night?"

Mrs. Peck's compassion perceptibly diminished and her severity
increased. "Oh, if you want the whole story," she said, "you'd better
have it and have done; that is, so far as I know it myself. There are