"Margaret!" she exclaimed, rushing up to her sister's side, and speaking in her high clear treble voice, "a poor man, the owner of that lovely yacht we saw come in last night, has been nearly smashed to pieces, and they have brought him here. His name is Sir Albert Gerald, and I saw him carried in. He is wonderfully handsome, and it was quite romantic to see him on his boat-cushions all carefully arranged, and carried shoulder-high by his boatmen."
"I know," said Margaret, putting her hand up to her aching head, "I saw him fall, Grace. He fell beside me, where I was sitting, and I thought he was killed."
"You saw him fall! Margaret, what an adventure, and did he speak to you? Did he see you? Who was there?"
"His boat's crew brought him home, you said?" and Margaret, who could not enter into all the particulars, just turned wearily over as though anxious to be left alone.
And Grace turned away. Margaret had seen him fall, but this was all, she thought.
That evening brought Mr. Sandford to Lornbay. Grace was the first to greet him, and any emotion that might have marked the meeting was entirely swept away by her coolness.
Margaret felt more, but she was struck by a look of worry and ill health visible in his face, and she was sorry for him, and her sorrow gave her manner a kindness he was not prepared for. He did not trouble them much with his society, but went off to discover when Mr. Drayton was likely to arrive; an unexpected smoothness had characterized his meeting with the girls, for which he felt duly thankful.
There were numbers of letters awaiting Mr. Drayton's arrival. Several in the well-known hand of his manager, the man who so steadily opposed all schemes, such as the very one Mr. Sandford was there to press upon him.
Not unnaturally, the landlord, and every one else connected with the place, was full of the terrible accident which had brought Sir Albert Gerald to the hotel, and it was also feared to his grave, for he was very ill. One arm was broken in two places, and he had sustained, it was feared, some internal injuries, which rendered his recovery problematical.
Mr. Sandford heard without more than a passing interest the story of the accident, told with that minute attention to unimportant details, that characterises a narration in the hands of those to whom all strange events appear in an exaggerated form. He did not know this man's name, though one day he was destined to know it well. He was sorry for him and that was all.