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“Raining again!” said Jerry. “It stopped this morning at two. Oh, yes, really it did. We’re almost there now. Hello! Here’s the boy with the morning papers. See, dear, here’s the head-line: Rain Stops at One-fifty–“

But Molly had seen another headline–a big headline that read: “Loss of Life at Rising Water! Governess of Jerome Tressady’s Family Swims One Mile to Safety!”–and she had fainted away.

She was very brave, very reasonable, when consciousness came back, but there could be no more pretence. She sat in the demoralized little parlor of the Emville Hotel–waiting for news–very white, very composed, a terrible look in her eyes. Jerry came and went constantly; other people constantly came and went. The flood was falling fast now and barges were being towed down the treacherous waters of Beaver Creek; refugees–and women and children whom the mere sight of safety and dry land made hysterical again–were being gathered up. Emville matrons, just over their own hours of terror, were murmuring about gowns, about beds, about food: “Lots of room–well, thank God for that–you’re all safe, anyway!” “Yes, indeed; that’s the only thing that counts!” “Well, bless his heart, we’ll tell him some day that when he was a baby–” Molly caught scraps of their talk, their shaken laughter, their tears; but there was no news of Belle–of Timmy–

“Belle is a splendid, strong country girl, you know, dear,” Jerry said. “Belle would be equal to any emergency!”

“Of course,” Molly heard herself say.

Jerry presently came in from one of his trips to draw a chair close to his wife’s and tell her that he had seen Miss Carter.

“Or, at least, I’ve seen her mother,” said Jerry, laying a restraining hand upon Molly, who sat bolt upright, her breast heaving painfully–“for she herself is feverish and hysterical, dear. It seems that she left–Now, my darling, you must be quiet.”

“I’m all right, Jerry. Go on! Go on!”

“She says that Hong and Little Hong managed to get away early in the evening for help. She didn’t leave until about midnight, and Belle and the boy were all right then–“

“Oh, my God!” cried poor Molly.

“Molly, dear, you make it harder.”

“Yes, I know.” Her penitent hot hand touched his own. “I know, dear–I’m sorry.”

“That’s all, dear. The water wasn’t very high then. Belle wouldn’t leave Timmy-” Jerry Tressady jumped suddenly to his feet and went to stare out the window with unseeing eyes. “Miss Carter didn’t get into town here until after daylight,” he resumed, “and the mother, poor soul, is wild with fright over her; but she’s all right. Now, Molly, there’s a barge going up as far as Rising Water at four. They say the bungalow is still cut off, probably, but they’ll take us as near as they can. I’m going, and this Rogers–Belle’s friend–will go, too.”

“What do you think, Jerry?” she besought him, agonized.

“My darling, I don’t know what to think.”

“Were–were many lives lost, Jerry?”

“A few, dear.”

“Jerry,”–Molly’s burning eyes searched his,–“I’m sane now. I’m not going to faint again; but–but–after little Jerry–I couldn’t bear it and live!”

“God sent us strength for that, Molly.”

“Yes, I know!” she said, and burst into bitter tears.

It had been arranged that Molly should wait at the hotel for the return of the barge; but Jerry was not very much surprised, upon going on board, to find her sitting, a shadowy ghost of herself, in the shelter of the boxed supplies that might be needed. He did not protest, but sat beside her; and Belle’s friend, a serious, muscular young man, took his place at her other side.

The puffing little George Dickey started on her merciful journey only after some agonizing delays; but Molly did not comment upon them once, nor did any one of the trio speak throughout the terrible journey. The storm was gone now, and pale, uncertain sunlight was falling over the altered landscape–over the yellow, sullen current of the river; over the drowned hills and partly submerged farms. A broom drifted by; a child’s perambulator; a porch chair. Now and then there was frantic signalling from some little, sober group of refugees, huddled together on a water-stained porch or travelling slowly down the heavy roads in a spattered surrey.