the wood. You
know where Farmer Griggs lives. The first farm the other side of the
Grange."

"Ay, ay, I knows where Farmer Griggs lives well enough."

"Run, then; and if the cart is here in half an hour I'll give you a
sovereign."

Inspirited by the hopes of such wealth, golden wealth, wealth for a
lifetime, the boy was quickly back over the fence, and Peregrine was
left alone with Felix Graham. He was now sitting down, with his feet
hanging into the ditch, and Peregrine was kneeling behind him. "I am
sorry I can do nothing more," said he; "but I fear we must remain
here till the cart comes."

"I am--so--vexed--about your hunt," said Felix, gasping as he spoke.
He had in fact broken his right arm which had been twisted under him
as the horse rolled, and two of his ribs had been staved in by the
pommel of his saddle. Many men have been worse hurt and have hunted
again before the end of the season, but the fracture of three bones
does make a man uncomfortable for the time. "Now the cart--is--sent
for, couldn't you--go on?" But it was not likely that Peregrine Orme
would do that. "Never mind me," he said. "When a fellow is hurt he
has always to do as he's told. You'd better have a drop of sherry.
Look here: I've got a flask at my saddle. There; you can support
yourself with that arm a moment. Did you ever see horses stand so
quiet. I've got hold of yours, and now I'll fasten them together. I
say, Whitefoot, you don't kick, do you?" And then he contrived to
picket the horses to two branches, and having got out his case of
sherry, poured a small modicum into the silver mug which was attached
to the apparatus and again supported Graham while he drank. "You'll
be as right as a trivet by-and-by; only you'll have to make Noningsby
your headquarters for the next six weeks." And then the same idea
passed through the mind of each of them;--how little a man need be
pitied for such a misfortune if Madeline Staveley would consent to be
his nurse.

No man could have less surgical knowledge than Peregrine Orme, but
nevertheless he was such a man as one would like to have with him if
one came to grief in such a way. He was cheery and up-hearted, but at
the same time gentle and even thoughtful. His voice was pleasant and
his touch could be soft. For many years afterwards Felix remembered
how that sherry had been held to his lips, and how the young heir of
The Cleeve had knelt behind him in his red coat, supporting him as he
becam