Ally's sprain proved a serious hurt; it was almost a fracture. In two hours after we reached home, the slender ankle was firmly bound with splinters, and the patient little face looking up from pillows on which the Doctor had said she must probably lie for some weeks. As he was leav- the room she said:—
"Oh, please, Mr. Will, show my pretty stone to the Doctor."
Dr. Miller reached out his hand eagerly for the crystal as soon as he saw its shape and color.
"Why, bless my soul, what 's that," he exclaimed. "You found that up on Black Ledge? Somebody must have dropped it. It 's an emerald. No, it is n't, either. Look at this red in it."
The Doctor was thoroughly excited. He turned the stone over and over, held it up to the lamplight, all the while muttering to himself, "Most extraordinary! Never saw or heard of such a stone as this before;" "looks like magic;" "and, by Jove, I believe it is," he said, dropping the stone suddenly on the floor, and rubbing his fingers violently. "It 's given me an electric shock."
"It made my hand prick," said Ally. "I could n't hold it either."
The Doctor and I stooped at once to pick it up, and our hands touched it simultaneously. Instantly the same sharp thrill of heat flamed up my arm as before. I drew back, and again I glanced uneasily at Ally, and felt that there was something
