He stood there enjoying my perplexity and idly twisting a piece of string round and round his fingers. At length he said, "Well, I don"t want to be hard on you. You may go and change this for me even now, if you like. I"ll give you three minutes to think it over, and you can come down into the playground when I sing out, and tell me what you mean to do. And you had better be sharp in coming, too, or it will be the worse for you."

He took his cap, and presently I heard him going down the steps to the playground. I would have given worlds to go and join the rest at tea, but I did not dare, and remained in the schoolroom, which was dim just then, for the gas was lowered; and while I stood there by the fireplace, trembling in the cold air which stole in through the door Ormsby had left open, Marjory came in by the other one, and was going straight to her father"s desk, when she saw me.

Her first impulse seemed to be to take no notice, but something in my face or att.i.tude made her alter her mind and come straight to me, holding out her hand.

"Cameron," she said, "shall we be friends again?"

"Yes, Marjory," I said; I could not have said any more just then.

"You look so miserable, I couldn"t bear it any longer," she said, "so I _had_ to make it up. You know, I was only pretending crossness, Cameron, all the time, because I really thought it was best. But it doesn"t seem to have done you much good, and I did promise to take care of you. What is it? Ormsby again?"

"Yes," I said, and told her the story of the commission.

"Oh, you stupid boy!" she cried, "couldn"t you see he only wanted to pick a quarrel? And if you change it now, he"ll make you change it again, and the next time, and the next after that--I know he will!"

Here Ormsby"s voice shouted from below, "Now then, you, Cameron, time"s up!"

"What is he doing down there?" asked Marjory, and her indignation rose higher when she heard.

"Now, Cameron, be brave; go down and tell him once for all he may just keep what he has, and be thankful. Whatever it is, it"s good enough for _him_, I"m sure!"

But I still hung back. "It"s no use, Marjory, he"ll tell everyone I cheated him--he says he will!"

"That he shall not!" she cried; "I won"t have it, I"ll go myself, and tell him what I think of him, and make him stop treating you like this."

Some faint glimmer of manliness made me ashamed to allow her thus to fight my battles. "No, Marjory, not you!" I said; "I will go: I"ll say what you want me to say!"

But it was too late. I saw her for just a second at the door, my impetuous, generous little Marjory, as she flung back her pretty hair in a certain spirited way she had, and nodded to me encouragingly.

And then--I can hardly think of it calmly even now--there came a sharp scream, and the sound of a fall, and, after that, silence.

Sick with fear, I rushed to the head of the steps, and looked down into the brown gloom.

"Keep where you are for a minute!" I heard Ormsby cry out. "It"s all right--she"s not hurt; now you can come down."

I was down in another instant, at the foot of the stairs, where, in a patch of faint light that fell from the door above, lay Marjory, with Ormsby bending over her insensible form.

"She"s dead!" I cried in my terror, as I saw her white face.

"I tell you she"s all right," said he, impatiently; "there"s nothing to make a fuss about. She slipped coming down and cut her forehead--that"s all."

"Marjory, speak to me--don"t look like that; tell me you"re not much hurt!" I implored her; but she only moaned a little, and her eyes remained fast shut.

"It"s no use worrying her now, you know," said Ormsby, more gently.

"Just help me to get her round to the kitchen door, and tell somebody."

We carried her there between us, and, amidst a scene of terrible confusion and distress, Marjory, still insensible, was carried into the library, and a man sent off in hot haste for the surgeon.

A little later Ormsby and I were sent for to the study, where Dr.

Dering, whose face was white and drawn as I had never seen it before, questioned us closely as to our knowledge of the accident.

Ormsby could only say that he was out in the playground, when he saw somebody descending the steps, and heard a fall, after which he ran up and found Marjory.

"I sent her into the schoolroom to bring my paper-knife," said the Doctor; "if I had but gone myself--! But why should she have gone outside on a frosty night like this?"

"Oh, Dr. Dering!" I broke out, "I"m afraid--I"m afraid she went for me!"

I saw Ormsby"s face as I spoke, and there was a look upon it which made me pity him.

"And you sent my poor child out on your errand, Cameron! Could you not have done it yourself?"

"I wish I had!" I exclaimed; "oh, I wish I had! I tried to stop her, and then--and then it was too late. Please tell me, sir, is she badly hurt?"

"How can I tell?" he said harshly; "there, I can"t speak of this just yet: go, both of you."

There was little work done at evening preparation that night; the whole school was buzzing with curiosity and speculation, as we heard doors opening and shutting around, and the wheels of the doctor"s gig as it rolled up the chestnut avenue.

I sat with my hands shielding my eyes and ears, engaged to all appearance with the books before me, while my restless thoughts were employed in making earnest resolutions for the future.

At last I saw my cowardice in its true light, and felt impatient to tell Marjory that I did so, to prove to her that I had really reformed; but when would an opportunity come? I might not see her again for days, perhaps not at all till after the holidays; but I would not let myself dwell upon such a contingency as that, and, to banish it, tried to picture what Marjory would say, and how she would look, when I was allowed to see her again.

After evening prayers, read by one of the a.s.sistant-masters, for the Doctor did not appear again, we were enjoined to go up to our bedrooms with as little noise as possible, and we had been in bed some time before Sutcliffe, the old butler, came up as usual to put out the lights.

On this occasion he was a.s.sailed by a fire of eager whispers from every door: "Sutcliffe, hi! old Sutty, how is she?" but he did not seem to hear, until a cry louder than the rest brought him to our room.

"For G.o.d"s sake, gentlemen, don"t!" he said, in a hoa.r.s.e whisper, as he turned out the light; "they"ll hear you downstairs."

"But how is she? do you know--better?"

"Ay," he said, "she"s better. She"ll be over her trouble soon, will Miss Marjory!"

A low murmur of delight ran round the room, which the butler tried to check in vain.

"Don"t!" he said again, "wait--wait till morning.... Go to sleep quiet now, and I"ll come up first thing and tell you."

He had no sooner turned his back than the general relief broke out irrepressibly; Ormsby being especially demonstrative. "Didn"t I tell you fellows so?" he said triumphantly; "as if it was likely a plucky girl like Marjory would mind a little cut like that. She"ll be all right in the morning, you see!"

But this confidence jarred upon me, who could not pretend to share it, until I was unable to restrain the torturing anxiety I felt.

"You"re wrong--all of you!" I cried, "I"m sure she"s not better. Didn"t you hear how Sutcliffe said it? She"s _worse_--she may even be dying!"

I met with the usual treatment of a prophet of evil. "You young m.u.f.f," I was told on all sides, "who asked your opinion? Who are you, to know better than anyone else?"

Ormsby attacked me hotly for trying to excite a groundless alarm, and I was recommended to hold my tongue and go to sleep.

I said no more, but I could not sleep; the others dropped off one by one, Ormsby being the last; but I lay awake listening and thinking, until the dread and suspense grew past bearing. I _must_ know the truth.

I would go down and find the Doctor, and beg him to tell me; he might be angry and punish me--but that would be nothing in comparison with the relief of knowing my fear was unfounded.

Stealthily I slipped out of bed, stole through the dim room to the door, and down the old staircase, which creaked under my bare feet. The dog in the yard howled as I pa.s.sed the big window, through which the stars were sparkling frostily in the keen blue sky. Outside the room in which Marjory lay, I listened, but could hear nothing. At least she was sleeping, then, and, relieved already, I went on down to the hall.