She was light and slender, and he was a strong lad and managed to steady her. An expression of sharp momentary anguish crossed her face.
“I hope you are not hurt,'' Marco said.
She bit her lip and clutched his shoulder very hard with her slim hand.
“I have twisted my ankle,'' she answered. “I am afraid I have twisted it badly. Thank you for saving me. I should have had a bad fall.''
Her long, dark eyes were very sweet and grateful. She tried to smile, but there was such distress under the effort that Marco was afraid she must have hurt herself very much.
“Can you stand on your foot at all?'' he asked.
“I can stand a little now,'' she said, “but I might not be able to stand in a few minutes. I must get back to the house while Ican bear to touch the ground with it. I am so sorry. I am afraid I shall have to ask you to go with me. Fortunately it is only a few yards away.''
“Yes,'' Marco answered. “I saw you come out of the house. If you will lean on my shoulder, I can soon help you back. I am glad to do it. Shall we try now?''
She had a gentle and soft manner which would have appealed to any boy. Her voice was musical and her enunciation exquisite.
Whether she was Spanish or Italian, it was easy to imagine her a person who did not always live in London lodgings, even of the better class.
“If you please,'' she answered him. “It is very kind of you.
You are very strong, I see. But I am glad to have only a few steps to go.''
She rested on his shoulder as well as on her umbrella, but it was plain that every movement gave her intense pain. She caught her lip with her teeth, and Marco thought she turned white. He could not help liking her. She was so lovely and gracious and brave.
He could not bear to see the suffering in her face.
“I am so sorry!'' he said, as he helped her, and his boy's voice had something of the wonderful sympathetic tone of Loristan's.
The beautiful lady herself remarked it, and thought how unlike it was to the ordinary boy-voice.
“I have a latch-key,'' she said, when they stood on the low step.
She found the latch-key in her purse and opened the door. Marco helped her into the entrance-hall. She sat down at once in a chair near the hat-stand. The place was quite plain and old-fashioned inside.
“Shall I ring the front-door bell to call some one?'' Marco inquired.
“I am afraid that the servants are out,'' she answered. “They had a holiday. Will you kindly close the door? I shall be obliged to ask you to help me into the sitting-room at the end of the hall. I shall find all I want there--if you will kindly hand me a few things. Some one may come in presently--perhaps one of the other lodgers --and, even if I am alone for an hour or so, it will not really matter.''
“Perhaps I can find the landlady,'' Marco suggested. The beautiful person smiled.
“She has gone to her sister's wedding. That is why I was going out to spend the day myself. I arranged the plan to accommodate her. How good you are! I shall be quite comfortable directly, really. I can get to my easy-chair in the sitting-room now Ihave rested a little.''
Marco helped her to her feet, and her sharp, involuntary exclamation of pain made him wince internally. Perhaps it was a worse sprain than she knew.
The house was of the early-Victorian London order. A “front lobby'' with a dining-room on the right hand, and a “back lobby,'' after the foot of the stairs was passed, out of which opened the basement kitchen staircase and a sitting-room looking out on a gloomy flagged back yard inclosed by high walls. The sitting-room was rather gloomy itself, but there were a few luxurious things among the ordinary furnishings. There was an easy-chair with a small table near it, and on the table were a silver lamp and some rather elegant trifles. Marco helped his charge to the easy-chair and put a cushion from the sofa under her foot. He did it very gently, and, as he rose after doing it, he saw that the long, soft dark eyes were looking at him in a curious way.
“I must go away now,'' he said, “but I do not like to leave you. May I go for a doctor?''
“How dear you are!'' she exclaimed. “But I do not want one, thank you. I know exactly what to do for a sprained ankle. And perhaps mine is not really a sprain. I am going to take off my shoe and see.''
“May I help you?'' Marco asked, and he kneeled down again and carefully unfastened her shoe and withdrew it from her foot. It was a slender and delicate foot in a silk stocking, and she bent and gently touched and rubbed it.
“No,'' she said, when she raised herself, “I do not think it is a sprain. Now that the shoe is off and the foot rests on the cushion, it is much more comfortable, much more. Thank you, thank you. If you had not been passing I might have had a dangerous fall.''
“I am very glad to have been able to help you,'' Marco answered, with an air of relief. “Now I must go, if you think you will be all right.''
“Don't go yet,'' she said, holding out her hand. “I should like to know you a little better, if I may. I am so grateful. Ishould like to talk to you. You have such beautiful manners for a boy,'' she ended, with a pretty, kind laugh, “and I believe I know where you got them from.''
“You are very kind to me,'' Marco answered, wondering if he did not redden a little. “But I must go because my father will--''
“Your father would let you stay and talk to me,'' she said, with even a prettier kindliness than before. “It is from him you have inherited your beautiful manner. He was once a friend of mine. I hope he is my friend still, though perhaps he has forgotten me.''
