d the
wild chase and came to the crest of the slope, she could see that the
hound had at length singled out a particular deer--a fine buck with
handsome horns that was making straight for the foot of the valley.
The herd, that had been much scattered, were now drawing together
again, though checking nothing of their speed; but this single buck
had been driven from his companions, and was doing his utmost to
escape from the fangs of the powerful animal behind him.
What could she do but run wildly and breathlessly on? The dog was now
far beyond the reach of her voice. She had no whistle. All sorts of
fearful anticipations rushed in on her mind, the most prominent of all
being the anger of her father if Bras were shot. How could she go back
to Borva with such a tale? and how could she live in London without
this companion who had come with her from the far North? Then what
terrible things were connected with the killing of deer in a royal
park! She remembered vaguely what Mr. Ingram and her husband had been
saying; and while these things were crowding in upon her, she felt
her strength beginning to fail, while both the dog and the deer had
disappeared altogether from sight.
Strange, too, that in the midst of her fatigue and fright, while she
still managed to struggle on with a sharp pain at her heart and a
sort of mist before her eyes, she had a vague consciousness that her
husband would be deeply vexed, not by the conduct or the fate of Bras,
but by her being the heroine of so mad an adventure. She knew that he
wished her to be serious and subdued and proper, like the ladies
whom she met, while an evil destiny seemed to dog her footsteps
and precipitate her into all sorts of erratic mishaps and "scenes."
However, this adventure was likely soon to have an end. She could go
no farther. Whatever had become of Bras, it was in vain for her to
think of pursuing him. When she at length reached a broad and smooth
road leading through the pasture, she could only stand still and press
her two hands over her heart, while her head seemed giddy, and she did
not see two men who had been standing on the road close by until they
came up and addressed her.
Then she started and looked round, finding before her two men who were
apparently laborers of some sort, one of them having a shovel over his
shoulder.
"Beg your pardon, miss, but wur that your dawg?"
"Yes," she said eagerly. "Could you get him? Did you see him go by? Do
you
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