"I don't know, Eddie dear, but I hope not," she said, low and
tremulously, the tears rolling fast down her own cheeks, while she took
out her handkerchief and gently wiped them away from his.

He dropped his head again, with a bitter, wailing cry. "O, I'm afraid he
is, and I shooted him! I shooted him!"

Fortunately Dr. Burton's residence was not far distant, and Ben urging
Beppo to his utmost speed and finding the doctor at home, had him at Mr.
Travilla's bedside in a wonderfully short space of time.

The doctor found the injury not nearly so great as he had feared: the
ball had struck the side of the head and glanced off, making a mere
scalp-wound, which, though causing insensibility for a time, would have
no very serious or lasting consequences; the blood had been already
sponged away, and the wound closed with sticking plaster.

But the fall had jarred the whole system and caused some bruises; so
that altogether the patient was likely to have to keep his bed for some
days, and the doctor said must be kept quiet and as free from excitement
as possible.

Elsie, leaving Aunt Chloe at the bedside, followed the physician from
the room.

"You need give yourself no anxiety, my dear Mrs. Travilla," he said
cheerily, taking her hand in his for a moment, in his kind fatherly
way--for he was an old man now, and had known her from her early
childhood--"the injuries are not at all serious, and there is no reason
why your husband should not be about again in a week or so. But how did