“The angelic devotion of nurses!” murmured Mr. Lavender, leaning against the wall of the house with his hand to his back.  “Nothing like it has been seen since the world began.”

“I shall never forget the sight!” said the young lady, choking.

Mr. Lavender, who took the noises she made for sobbing, was unutterably disturbed.

“I can’t bear to see you distressed on my account,” he said.  “I am quite well, I assure you; look—­I can walk!” And he started forth up the garden in his nightshirt and Norfolk jacket.  When he turned round she was no longer there, sounds of uncontrollable emotion were audible from the adjoining garden.  Going to the privet hedge, he looked aver.  She was lying gracefully on the grass, with her face smothered in her hands, and her whole body shaking.  “Poor thing!” thought Mr. Lavender.  “No doubt she is one of those whose nerves have been destroyed by the terrible sights she has seen!” But at that moment the young lady rose and ran as if demented into her castle.  Mr. Lavender stayed transfixed.  “Who would not be ill for the pleasure of drinking from a cup held by her hand?” he thought.  “I am fortunate to have received injuries in trying to save her from confusion.  Down, Blink, down!”

For his dog, who had once more leaped from the window, was frantically endeavouring to lick his face.  Soothing her, and feeling his anatomy, Mr. Lavender became conscious that he was not alone.  An old lady was standing on the gardenpath which led to the front gate, holding in her hand a hat.  Mr. Lavender sat down at once, and gathering his nightshirt under him, spoke as follows: 

“There are circumstances, madam, which even the greatest public servants cannot foresee, and I, who am the humblest of them, ask you to forgive me for receiving you in this costume.”

“I have brought your hat back,” said the old lady with a kindling eye; “they told me you lived here and I was anxious to know that you and your dear dog were none the worse.”

“Madam,” replied Mr. Lavender, “I am infinitely obliged to you.  Would you very kindly hang my, hat up on the—­er—­weeping willow tree?”

At this moment a little white dog, who accompanied the old lady, began sniffing round Mr. Lavender, and Blink, wounded in her proprietary instincts, placed her paws at once on her master’s shoulders, so that he fell prone.  When he recovered a sitting posture neither the old lady nor the little dog were in sight, but his hat was hanging on a laurel bush.  “There seems to be something fateful about this morning,” he mused; “I had better go in before the rest of the female population——­” and recovering his feet with difficulty, he took his hat, and was about to enter the house when he saw the young lady watching him from an upper window of the adjoining castle.  Thinking to relieve her anxiety, he said at once: 

“My dear young lady, I earnestly beg you to believe that such a thing never happens to me, as a rule.”