faces that were bent over her.

"Lie still, my dear," said Mrs. Ames. "You have been hurt more than you
think."

"Did I faint?--yes, I must have--but I'm not hurt." She tried to rise,
but with a moan she sank back on the pillow which Nina had brought.

"I'll go for the doctor," said Rupert, and off he went. When he and
Doctor Chase came in an hour later, the girl was again sitting at the
table with Mrs. Ames and Nina.

"I met with a slight accident down the road," she explained to the
doctor. "I wasn't quite killed, you see, but these good people are
trying to finish me with their kindness;" and she laughed merrily.

Her name was Miss Wilton. She was a school teacher, and was on her way
to answer an advertisement of the Dry Bench trustees for a teacher. She
hoped the doctor would pronounce her all right that she might continue
her journey, as she understood it was not far.

"You have had a severe shaking up, Miss Wilton, but I don't think you
need to postpone your journey more than a few hours," was the doctor's
decision.

About noon, Rupert drove Miss Wilton's horse around to the front door
and delivered it to her. With a profusion of thanks, she drove away in
the direction of the chairman of the school trustees. Neither Nina nor
her mother had said anything about Rupert's being on the board. Mrs.
Ames had once seemed to broach the subject, but a look from Rupert was