Leonard met at such a speed that only by seizing her with both his hands
did he avoid trampling her down. The scream was repeated again and
again.

"It's Minnie!" cried Isabel as they sprang down the path to the mill
pond; and Leonard, outrunning her, called back,--

"We'll get her out! She's not gone under!"

The next moment he, and then she, were on the scene. Minnie stood on
the firmer ice away from the bank, moaning in continued agitation, but
already rescued. It was Arthur Winslow who had saved her.

Now he gained the bank with the dripping girl, where he yielded her to
his wife, and without a word from him, from Isabel, or from Leonard to
any one but the incessantly talking maid, the four hurried up the path.
When they reached the arbor Ruth had joined them, and there the three
women turned to the cottage. Leonard passed on toward his home. Arthur
went into his own house.

In the cottage, while being hurried into dry clothes, Minnie more
coherently explained her mishap. Wishing to play a joke on Giles, she
had slipped away from the fireside company of him and Sarah to put a
match to his fagots on the pond, run back with word that they were
burning, and laugh with Sarah while Giles should plunge out to find the
incendiaries. But she had forgotten how frail good ice may be against a
warm bank, and leaping down, had promptly broken through. She had had
the fortune to hold on by the ice's outer edge until Arthur, whom she
felt sure only Providence could have sent there, drew her out. She was
tearfully ashamed, yet not so broken in spirit but she fiercely vowed