Heaven have
mercy on their follies!"
"The accident might not have happened?"
"I do not speak of the accident. I mean what followed. When out shooting
I nearly blew off my arm. I was carried to the nearest medical man's, a
Dr. Mair's, and remained there; for it was not thought safe to move me;
they feared inflammation, and they feared locked-jaw. My father was
written to, and came; and when he left after the danger was over he made
arrangements with Dr. Mair to keep me on, for he was a skilful man, and
wished to perfect the cure. I thought the prolonged stay in the strange,
quiet house worse than all the rest. That feeling wore off; we grow
reconciled to most conditions; and things became more tolerable as I grew
better and joined the household. There was a wild, clever, random young
man staying there, the doctor's assistant--George Gordon; and there was
also a young girl, Agnes Waterlow. I used to wonder what this Agnes did
there, and one day asked the old housekeeper; she said the young lady was
there partly that the doctor might watch her health, partly because she
was a relative of his late wife's, and had no home."
He paused, as if in thought, but soon continued.
"We grew very intimate; I, Gordon, and Miss Waterlow. Neither of them was
the person I should have chosen for an intimacy; but there was, in a
sense, no help for it, living together.
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