"I can't say."
"Well, I must be on the way," uttered the engineer, "we are behind time now."
By this time the conductor was on the ground, but the train was running again, and he received a full explanation from the engineer afterward.
When the young man made a closer inspection of the girl he had rescued, a cry of surprise fell from his lips.
"As I live, it is Nell Darrel!"
But she could not speak to thank him for his act, since she had fainted.
Lifting her tenderly the young man turned his steps in the direction of the farm-house, where he had been stopping during the past two days.
"Curse you! curse you!" were the venomous words flung after the man by Madge Scarlet.
But she dared not interfere to prevent the rescue.
When Nell Darrel again opened her eyes, it was to find herself calmly resting on a couch in a little room, whose cozy appearance was like home indeed. And the face that bent over her was not that of a stranger. Could it be that she was dreaming?