Part 8 (1/2)

”I a away, sir?” she repeated anxiously, as she caain, Maisie I aood”

She looked up at me in dumb disquiet

”Maisie, Lady Rosemary Granton will be here this week-end”

”Yes, sir!” she answered ”I a after her rooently on her shoulder

”I want you to do soive her this letter,--see that she gets it when she is alone It is more important to her than you can ever dream of She must have it within a few hours of her arrival No one else must set eyes on it between now and then Do you understand, Maisie?”

”Oh, yes, sir! You can trust irl”

I gave her the letter and she placed it in the safest, the most secret, place she knew,--her bosom Then her eyes scanned me over

”Oh! sir,” she cried, in sudden alar”

I put my hand to my cheek, but then I remembered I had already wiped away the few drops of blood from there with my handkerchief

”Your arm, sir,” she pointed

”Oh!--just a scratch, Maisie”

”Won't you let o?” she pleaded

”It isn't worth the trouble, Maisie”

Tears came to those pretty eyes of hers; so, to please her, I consented

”All right,” I cried, ”but hurry, for I have no more business in here now than a thief would have”

She did not understand , but she left e, balsaes

I slipped off ers sponged away the congealed blood and soothed the throb, I began to discover, from the intense relief, how painful had been the hurt,as it was

She poured on soentleness, all tenderness, like ahere, Maisie, that aches outrageously now that the other has been lulled to sleep” I pointed to my breast

She undid e, she cried out in anxiety

It was a raw, jagged, angry-looking wound, but nothing to occasion concern