CHAPTER X.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 351, 16 March 1889, Page 6

CHAPTER X.

- AN AWKWARD FAMj. They rode on come way without speaking, till they reached a certain spot where a bridle-path led through the fields. 'If we wweroe 'o out across here, Dulcie,' sail Bob, reining in his horse, ' we should save a couple of miles. You know the road, don't you ? It skirts the park walls of Brabazon Hall. There are plenty of gates, bub if the worst comes to the worst we can jump.

Now the mere mention of a leip was J sufficient to set Dulcie on the tip-toe of excifcemenr. She and Butterfly were in the habit of constantly going over small places together, and once last winter, when an uncle hud come to stay at Milnacot Lodge, he had taken her out hunting, and declared, on his return homo that she * had gone like a bird.' She did not feel the smallest anxiety on her own account ; but when she looked at poor Bob's clumsy, underbred steed, her mind bacatne filled with misgiving?. • Can old Blunderbuss jump ?' she asked, rather sceptically. • He gets along after a fashion, and can go through most things, if not over. And Buttetfly, wo know, won't refuse anything in reason. If the worst com© to the worst, I count upon your going as straight as a die.' ' i believe she knows already what we are talking about,' said Dulcie, leaning forward and patting the mare's glospy neck. ' She's longing to be off, and havo another gallop.' Bob had opened the gate, and they were now in a huge grass-field, t rough which ran at. at row bridle-path. The air began to feol chilly, though the lingering sun, as it eank slowly to rest, still ca«t on the landscape a glorious golden light, rendered etill m re conspicuous hy the sharp shadows lengthening swiftly under the tree* and hedgerows. Butterfly blew through her thick flexible lips, and broke into a canter. ' Don't go too last, Dulcie,' cautioned Bob, fearing lest the mare might overpower her rider altogether. 'She looks not unlike running away.' ' Not she,' answered the girl, confidently. But, in epite of the above assertion, it was lucky, when bhe arrived at the end of the field, that the gate stood wide open ; but, Butfcertly had not the pmalle-t intention of pausing in her career Through the next held s-he meed, and the one aft i\ and only when Dulcie perceived the gate ) ahead to be closed, did the girl succeed -- by dropping thioa reins, and hauling with &upei human exertions at the remaining one — in making the mare oxecute a .semicircle, which iina-liy brought her to a standstill. She bar) to wait nearly live minutes before Bob came up pmting and blowing, with old Blunderbuss looking exceedingly distressed by the severity of ihe pace. •What a madcap you are, Dulcie !' he said, with the nearest approach at a reprimand he could asf-ume in his dealings with her. * You and Butterfly are j ist a pair.' ' Never mind, Bob, dear,' she answered, coaxingly, '"c mean no harm by our vagaries. They are only the natural ebullition of youth an I spiiite. This tiresome gate is fastened. See if you can't open it I've tried, but Butterfly won't stand still.' • Dash it all !' he exclaimed, wrathfully, after making several ineffectual endeavours, ' I verily believe the beastly thing if locked. What the dence are we to do V • Let's take it off its hinges,' she t>uggested, with a woman's ready resource. 4 You'll have to get down, Bob. Here, let me keep Blunderbuss, while you see if you can manage it.' And she seized hold of the perspiring quadruped's reins whilst the two horses' immediately began rubbing heads together after the fashion of their kind. Bob dismounted, placed his broad back against the gate, ftnd tried with all his might and main to lift it up ; but though he grew scarlet in the face, and emphasised the proceeding with sundry oaths and abjurations moro forcible than strictly polite, i is exeitions remained unattended by any satisfactory results. • It'n no use, Dulcie !' he exclaimed despairingly, wiping the moisture from his brow. 'It's just like our luck; and we shall have to go back.' 1 Indeed we shan't !' declared the girl, j with spiri;. ' You may do as you like, but I intend jumping the fence. 1 Hob now, for the first time, took a critical gnzea-ound. The fence in question was a great, high, straggly bullfinch, thick at the bottom but thinner at the top, armed with thorns, and wilh a very respectable oxer on the take off side, guarding a deep, newly cut ditch. It was the kind of place that required two or *three eixteen-ttone I men to cra?h through first, btfore a suitable opening could be effected. Meantime, Dulcie, to Bob's alarm, had reined Butterfly back, and was standing exactly opposite this formidable obstacle, having selected a comparatively weak i-pot. ' Jump the fence !' ho called out hastily. 'For goodness oake don't attempt an\thing of the sort. You don't know what you aio talking about. It would be sheer madness.' But Dulcie'a blood, like Butterfly's, was thoioughly roused ; beside* which, she ! pos-es-od in all rashness the pluck of ! ignorance, and, almost before the words | were out of Bob's mouth, pho sot the mare determinedly at the bulllinch. Butterfly, cocking her small ears in glad response, went gamely towards it, and never swei ved a hair's breadth. With a sptiug, stag-like bound, she flew into the air, and succeeded in forcing a passage through the topmost twigs, though Dulcie very nearly lost her balance and was withjin an ace of being torn off backward * hy the strong f-hnrp grower?, which scratched her face so that the blood spurted forth. They landed -on to the smooth grass beyond ? No, plump into a horseI pond, of whose presence neither mare nor ' rider had hitherto been awaie. | There was a desperate struggle, it spas- | modic floundering, followed by a mighty j t plash, then the luckless pair disappeared bodily beneath the green, slimy water. As she felt the cold, ungracious element 00/.ing through her thick cloth habit into her l boots and eyes and ears and nose, Duicie gave utterance to ono sharp shriek of phyci cal terror that made the blood in Bob Mornington's veins run cold. Ho could tell by the souud that Dulcie was frightened, and for Dulcie to be really frightenod argued something very bad the matter. He rammed Blunderbuss hastily at the fence, but the old brute evidently considered it a ?ize too big and refuted. There was not a minute to be lost, so Bob sprang to the ground, &eized the horse by the bridle, and by main strength hauled him through the fence and then left him to gallop off at will. All this occupied but a vory few seconds in reality, though it seemed to Bob an age. When ho got into the field, he caw Butterfly in the act of struggling out of the pond, ond Dulcie, with her head and arms almost touching the ground, hanging over the offside of tho saddle. Her habit was apparently tightly held by the third ciutch, and detained her firmly in that perilous position. As she scrambled to her feot snorting with fear, the mare stood still for a second or two, shook the dripping water from her coat like a dog, and lashed out once or twice at the unaccustomed burden dandling by her side; while Bob made a sudden snatch at the loosely drooping rein*. Unfortunately he missed them, and ! the action only served to increase | Butterfly's uneasiness, for now, with a wilful shake of the head and a wild light gleaming in her blue eyes, frhe firat vralked a pace, then trotted, and finally broke into a gallop. The novel weight so olos* to her beele, added to a naturally

nervous and irritable tem p6ra men fct. drove her almosb frantic, ana she sor> to work kicking like a mad thing, while at each kick Bob-r-who felt well-nigh pnralyfed with terror and tho knowledge of his own utter helplessness —momentarily expected to see the brains of the girl he loved best in ! the world dnshed out before his eye*. For, if he had entertained any doubts on the subject before, he realised now in that one agonising minute, when it appeared probable he might lose her for ever, how bald and void life would seem to him in her absence. He learnt in one ehort second that she was nearer and dearer than father, j mother, sister, brother, friend, and that all his very being was completely centred in hers. Then, on n sudden, a great sickening horror came over his senses. ♦ Oh, my God !' he cried aloud in his misery, while every vestige of colour desarted his cheeks, ' she will be killed, and I — I — can do nothing to help her !' And it really seemed as if hi-* words were true, for the more he tried to approach the mare, the more infuriated she yrew, and the faster did she gallop, bo that he cursed his folly in having let go of old Blunderbuss. But even then, what ch>»nce would he have had of ovcitakiner her, since Butter fly could travel two strides to his one? And Dulcio'* death would lie at his door, and he should feel like a murderer, since he it was who had persuaded her to commit an act of disobedience — for the gratification of what? Hi* selfish p'easuie; because ho loved her and longed for her presence at any cost. But now his puni hment'had come,^and it was harder than he could bear. What would Mr? Shepperton say to him when he returned home with the mangled body of her dead daughter in his arms ? How could he ever look her, or indeed anyone, in the face again ? And to think that he should kill Dulcie — Dulcie, whose dear image Hllfd his soul, and the very hair of whose head w na sacred to him ! He hid his face in his hands with a shudder of abeoluto despair. But only for one second. There might be somo hope yet. Habits -stout as they were — were not invulnerable, nnd must surely tear to pieces with such a strain put upon their texture. Bob looked up, and ut that moment perceived a horseman mounted on a splendidstepping cob, come galloping up in all haste. The new-comer had evidently taken the situation in at a glance, and adopted the bold tactics of endeavouring to puc a stop to Butterfly's career by cutting her off at right angles. He made a gallant charge and a downward swoop — which, thanks to the perfect hardiness and docility of the animal he bestrode, enabled him to teize Buttertly's reins in his light hand, and, holding on to them like grim death, brought her to a half. It was right well done, as Bob Mornington, hurrying up, with a rush ot relief and returning hope, gladly admitted. He at once unhooked the girl's habit, and roleased her fi om her dangerous position, scarcely daring to look at' her for fear of seeing some terrible disfigurement. 'Oh, Dulcie dear! Are you awfully, badly hurt?' he asked, in a tremulous voice, altogether forgetting the presence of a third party in the joy of finding her still alive. She was lying full length on the dry grass, with htr face white as driven snow, save for a long red scratch on one pale cheek, indicted by the thorns when she had jumped the fence. Her eyes were closed, and evon now, when full of alarm for her condition, Bob could not help noticing how long and dark were the soft curled eyelashes. At the sound ot his voice fihe looked up with a struggling smile, trying to gain full consciousness. He put his strong arm under her, and pillowed her head upon his knee. His honest face was nearly as white as her own, and quivering with powerful emotion. 'Dulcie, my little darling —my little sweet wounded dar-ing — tell me are you very badly hurt ?'