heir connection had better be as brief as possible; and
the name on the door showed that he came from beyond the circle of
influence of the name of Charnock Poynsett. She longed to assume
the reins, if not to lay the whip about his ears; but all she could
do was to try to lessen the force of the jolts by holding up the
girl, as the horse was savagely beaten, and the carriage so swayed
from side to side that she began to think it would be well if there
were not three cases for the Infirmary instead of one. To talk to
the girl or learn her wishes was not possible, among the moans and
cries caused by the motion; and it was no small relief to be safely
at the Infirmary door, though there was no release till after a
fierce altercation with the driver, who first denied, and then
laughed to scorn the ample fare he had received, so that had any
policeman been at hand, the porter and house surgeon would have
given him in charge, but they could only take his number and let him
drive off in a fury.

Poor Fanny was carried away fainting to the accident ward, and
Rosamond found it would be so long before she would be visible
again, that it would be wiser to go home and send in her relations,
but there was not a fly or cab left in Wil'sbro', and there was
nothing for it but to walk.

She found herself a good deal shaken, and walked fast because thus
her limbs did not tremble so much, while the glaring September
afternoon made her miss the parasol she had left in the carriage,
and find little comfort in the shadeless erection on her head. It
was much further than she had walked for a long time past, and she
had begun to think she had parted with a good deal of her strength
before the Compton woods grew more defined, or the church tower came
any nearer.

Though the lane to the Reynolds' colony was not full in her way, she
was glad to sit down in the shade to speak to old Betty, who did not
comport herself according to either extreme common to parents in
literature.

"So Fanny, she be in the 'firmary, be her? I'm sure as 'twas very
good of the young Squire and you, my lady; and I'm sorry her's bin
and give you so much trouble."

Everybody was harvesting but the old woman, who had the inevitable
bad leg. All men and beasts were either in the fields or at the
races, and Rosamond, uncertain whether her patient was not in a
dying state, rejoiced in her recent acquisition of a pony carriage,
and speeding home with renewed energy