Year: 1869

upon that lovely dead face, and when he
did so IL was with wonder not unmixcd
with terror. that a change had come upon
it. lie could not tell what it might be
the deathly pallor was still there, but in
some way the face was still the same.
lie looked into it long and curiouslv.
Surely there was change in the ewes,
for though they were still fast shut, they
were now closed in sleep rather than in
DEATH He lifted an eyelid tenderly with
his finger, there was not death in the eye;
unconsciousness, trance, there might be,
but not death.


He was certain now that she was not
dead, though he could find no life in her
pulses. For hours he strove to call beck
the spirit, until at length color returned
and warmth and lie, and she lay before
him sleeping like child. He had placed
her on his bed, and now sat by her side
with throbbing heart to await her awak
cning.


She slept so long, and in the waning Of
the day looked so pale that he feared she
was again going to fall into the strange
deathly trance from which he had with
so much difficulty awakened her In his
terror of that he cried out for her TO
awake and the sound of his cry awoke
her with start.


He had prepared speech that was to
calm and reassure her when she awoke
to find herself so strangely lodged and
clothed bnt she needed no more calming
than child too young to know its mother
from any other woman. She looked
around with wondering gaze that was
almost infantile, and her eye resting upon
Ashley she sat up in bed and asked him
in his own language for food 1t was
evident that she had no recollection of
illness and neither anxiety nor curiosity
as to her present situation.


She ate the food which was brought
to her with appetite, and would have
risen from the bed, apparently uncon-
scious that she wore no garment but
shroud, had not Ashley persuaded her to
lie down and sleep.


He lett her sleeping, and went to an
other room profoundly puzzled Here
was this beautiful woman, ignorant, and
almost helpless az child, thrown upon
him for protection, as it was clear that she
did not remember anything that would
lead to the recovery of his friends. 1t
was possible that her senses had left her
altogether, never to return; the lovely
creature might be harmless idiot all
the rest of her life. Her speaking Eng
.ish was another puzzle. She might be
an English woman, her beauty was GER
tainly of the Saxon type, or she might
have learned the English language; but
if so how came that knowledge u have
been retained when all else seemed to
have gone?


His perplexity was interrupted by the
entrance of the cause OF it. She stood
at the door wrapped round in one of the
bed covering, looking at him with
sweet, childish vacant expression that
was tontching in its helplessness. 81
must call her something" he thought, as
she stood apparently waiting for him to
speak cher name shall be Mary"


care you better, Mary, and will you
sit in this chair?''


She paid no attention to his enquiry
but took the profared seat, and began
rocking herself to and fro. 1t had such
a ghostly effect to see her sitting there
by the lamplght, robed in he long white
drapery, with her beautiful face still pale,
no longer deathly, rocking herself to and
fro in silence, that sensation very like
fear thrilled through him. lie took up
book, the first that came to hand, it was
an English one, and offering it to her,
asking if she would like to read.


She took it with childish smile, AMI
laying it open upon her knees began to
tiutter the leaves backward and forward,
playing daintily with them.


"Good heavens I" said Ashley to him
self "she is mad, imbecie at any rate; /
must do something with her"


But it was impossible to think with
her before him, and, taking her by the
hands said:


"Now, Mary, you must go to bed and
tomorrow"


She did not wait for the end of the
sentence, but rose at once to go letting
fall the coverlid that had enveloped her,
and walked quietly into the inner room.


Ashley fastened the door, and felt as ii
he were going mad from sheer bewilder-
ment. She must have clothes the very
first thing, and how were these to be
obtained without taking some one into
his confidence.


Even if he knew where to go for them,
he knew not of what woman's clothes
should be. 1t WAS evident that some
one must be told of the extraordinary
adventure, and it was evident that it
must be a woman in whom he confided,
as he required practical help of kind
no man could give him.


The morning dawned before he could
arrange any sett led plan, and finally he
decided that be could not if he would rid
himself OF the charge of her, therefore
she should remain in his house, and he
would tell all TO the one acting as his
housekeeper, who CHANGED to be absent
at the time, but whose return he was
expecting that very day. He would
bind her to SECRECY by the most solemn
oath he could devise, and if she failed to
keep it, why, at any rate he was in a
terrible scrape, and this seemed the best
thing to be done. The woman returned
early in the day, and Ashley at once told
all, and imployH her assistance. To his
great relief she agreed at once to do all
that Law in her hower for the unhaDnV