Ruth gripped her habit in both hands and sped across the gra.s.s after the groom; the two young men galloped ahead; and from one and all came a second cry of alarm, as a moment later Prince sounded his appearance careering wildly along riderless and free.

What were they going to see? A helpless form stretched on the ground; a white unconscious face; a terrible, tell-tale wound? A dozen horrible pictures suggested themselves one after the other in those breathless seconds; but when the fatal spot was reached there was no figure upon the ground, senseless or the reverse; no Mollie was seen to right or left.

It seemed as if the earth had opened and swallowed her up, until a feeble squeak made the rescuers lift their eyes suddenly to the heart of the tree, where a black skirt and two small kicking feet were seen swinging to and fro in the air. Another step forward showed the whole picture, gauntleted hands clutching wildly to a bough, and a pink agonised face turned over one shoulder, while a little pipe of a voice called out gaspingly--

"Catch me! hold me! take me down! oh, my arms! I'm falling, falling, I'm falling! oh, oh, oh--I'm falling down!" And fall she did, so suddenly and violently that the groom, although a stoutly built man, tottered beneath her weight.

The ordinary heroine of fiction is so frail and ethereal in build that when she faints away, under a stress of emotion, the hero gathers her lovely form in his arms and carries her for a couple of miles with delightful ease; but Mollie Farrell was a healthy, well-grown girl; and for one agonising moment it appeared as if the sequel to the adventure was to be an ignominious tumble to the ground of rescuer and rescued.

The moment pa.s.sed, the groom steadied himself with an involuntary "Whoa!" and Mollie turned to confront her friends, swaying painfully to and fro, with crossed hands pressing against each shoulder.

"Oh, my arms! my arms! They are torn out of their sockets! I know they are! The pain is really hideous!"

"What happened? How did you manage to perform such an acrobatic feat?"

cried Jack, now that anxiety was appeased, unable to resist a smile at the remembrance of the pretty, comical picture, and the undignified descent to the ground; but Mollie snapped him up sharply, her sense of humour absolutely eclipsed by the pain she was suffering.

"It wasn't a feat! I saw the bough before me and I thought I should be killed, and I put out my hands to save myself and--I don't know how it happened; but the next moment that horrid, wicked animal slipped from under me, and my arms were jerked nearly out of my body, and I was left dangling in mid-air. It's perfectly hateful of you all to stand there and laugh! I might have been killed outright if it hadn't been for Bates."

"You were only a yard or so from the ground; you could have dropped down yourself without making a fuss. I kept my seat at any rate, and I didn't howl half so loudly!" said Ruth self-righteously. "What made you do anything so mad as to ride in among all those trees?"

"I didn't! It was the horse; he would go, whatever I did," protested Mollie feebly: whereupon Bates shook his head with solemn disapproval.

"We've got to be very thankful as matters is no worse," said the alarmed groom. "I shall have a fine lecturing from the squire when he hears of this, but you will bear me witness as it was against my wishes. If I'd had my way you would never have ventured off by yourselves, for another week at least, but there was no gainsaying you. I'm thinking you'll have had about enough lesson for to-day, and I must look after those horses. To-morrow--"

"To-morrow we'll be good and docile, and do as you tell us. My nerves are too shaken to be disobedient; but don't be afraid; you shan't be scolded for what isn't your fault," said Ruth with her pretty smile.

Bates touched his cap and walked off, mollified, while the girls turned sadly homeward. Jack and Victor offered their escort, but, finding it impossible to disguise all traces of amus.e.m.e.nt, were promptly snubbed and bidden to go and be superior by themselves.

"I do hate men! horrid, patronising creatures!" cried Mollie pettishly, as she limped onwards. "They think themselves so grand because they are stronger than we are, and have no tiresome skirts to hamper them. I don't like riding half as much as I expected. I'm so stiff and sore, I should like to go to bed for a month. I shall lie down this afternoon.

I'll get a nice book, and pull the sofa up to the window, and have tea brought up to me; and I just hope it will rain and pour, and they will have nothing to do and be bored to death, and then they will miss me, and be sorry that they were so rude. Laughing, indeed, when I was in danger of my life, before their very eyes!"

"You were safe enough before they laughed, and you did look funny hanging in mid-air! You didn't think it was cruel to laugh at me, and I was just as much frightened as you were!" retorted Ruth; and thereafter a frigid silence was maintained until the Court was reached.

At lunch Mr Farrell appeared with a clouded brow, and vouchsafed only monosyllabic replies when addressed. It was evident that something had displeased him, and, though no reference was made to the adventures of the morning, the young people had discovered by now that he possessed a mysterious power of knowing all about their actions, in sight or out of sight, and felt correspondingly ill at ease. When the meal was over and the servants had left the room, the storm burst suddenly. The sunken eyes gleamed with an angry light, and the tired voice sounded unusually loud and threatening.

"Has neither of you two young men the sense or the prudence to prevent a lady from running a foolish risk? I am informed that Ruth was in danger of having a serious accident this morning. I am not personally able to look after her safety, and she was possibly ignorant of her own folly in attempting more than she could accomplish; but I had imagined that in my absence she had two sufficient protectors--one of whom, at least, I understand to be an accomplished horseman."

Victor flushed deeply, and the lids fell over his tell-tale eyes.

"No one regrets Miss Ruth's fright more than I do, sir. She had been such an apt pupil that I did not imagine that there was any danger in trying a little canter on her own account. Bates disapproved of it, but I am afraid I sided against him. I can only promise to be more careful in future."

"It was no one's fault but my own, Uncle Bernard," interrupted Ruth eagerly. "I was conceited and thought I could do anything I liked, and I have learnt a lesson--that's all! I was frightened, but I hung on so tightly to the pommel that I don't think there was any real danger of falling. I really will be careful not to run any more risks."

"I trust you will. I feel responsible for your safety while you are under my roof, and it will be a severe strain on my nerves if I cannot rely on your discretion. Are you feeling any ill effects from your fright? Can Mrs Wolff help you in any way, or perhaps the doctor--"

Ruth gave an involuntary exclamation of surprise and protest, and the colour rushed into her cheeks. It was so surprising, so extraordinary that Uncle Bernard should betray such concern for her safety and actually suggest sending for a doctor on her behalf. Her heart beat high with the conviction that she was, indeed, his favourite, his Chosen, and that therefore her safety was all-important for the success of his scheme.

She turned her grey eyes upon him with a liquid glance of grat.i.tude, as she faltered out words of acknowledgment.

"Oh no, indeed, it is quite unnecessary! Thank you so much all the same. I am vexed with myself for having upset you by being so headstrong, and didn't hurt myself a bit."

"That is well, then!" Mr Farrell rose from the table and turned slowly towards the door. As he did so he found himself suddenly confronted by another face--a bright-eyed, mutinous girl's face, so transparently charged with speech that he stopped short, uttering an involuntary inquiry--

"Well! what is it? What have _you_ got to say?"

Mollie's lips parted, her head tilted to the side.

"_I_ was in danger, too! much more than she was. I _did_ tumble off! I hung on to the branch of a tree. I might have been injured most dreadfully."

"Ah-ah!" said Mr Farrell slowly. He turned his head aside, and his lips twitched uncertainly. "You! But you, my dear Mary, can take such uncommonly good care of yourself!"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

MOLLIE DEFENDS HER UNCLE.

Mr Farrell walked to the door, and shut it behind him. Everyone stood still, staring at Mollie, and Mollie stared ruefully back.

"Oh!" she cried breathlessly, "oh!" and pressed both palms to her now scorching cheeks. "I've never been snubbed like that in all my life."

Then suddenly she laughed a bright, sweet-hearted laugh, utterly free from envy. "I'm nowhere, Ruth, when you are concerned; but there's one comfort, I can do as I like, and no one will interfere! If it is to be a choice between the two, I prefer freedom to riches."

She left the room to make her way upstairs, and Jack crossed the hall by her side. He looked intently at her as he walked, and when their eyes met he said simply--

"You took that well--very well indeed! I congratulate you on your self- control. I could not have kept my temper as you did."

"Oh, I don't know!" returned Mollie easily. "I brought it on my own head. It was stupid to speak of myself at all; but just for the moment I couldn't help feeling aggrieved, because, really and truly, I was in greater danger than she. Uncle Bernard is old, poor thing, and that makes him querulous."

"It ought not to. I call that a very poor excuse. When a man gets to his age he ought surely to have learnt to be patient, even if he imagines himself provoked."

"But he is ill as well. You say nothing about that. Should that make him patient too?"

"Certainly it should. Suffering has often a most enn.o.bling effect."

Mollie stood on the first step of the staircase, her arm on the banister, looking with a challenging smile into the proud self-confident face on a level with her own.

"Have you ever been ill, Mr Melland?"

"I am thankful to say I have not."

"But you have surely had a pain, or an ache, for a few hours at a time?

Ear-ache, when you were a child, or toothache later on?"

"Oh, certainly! I've had my share of toothache, and the smaller ailments."

"And when the spasms were on,--were _you_ gentle and patient? Did you feel your character being enn.o.bled, or did you rage and champ about like a mad bull?"

Jack laughed. It was impossible to resist it, at the sight of the mischievous face, and the sound of the exaggerated, school-girl simile.