Cursed by a Fortune Part 41

"Well, I have told you that."

"Who can believe you?"

"You can. Come, I say; I thought you were going to be really a bit loving to me at last when I heard the whistle. It's been like courting a female porcupine up to now."

"You know whom your cousin has gone with?"

"Pretty sure," he said, sulkily.

"Who is it?"

"Oh, well, if you must know, Harry Dasent."

"That cousin I saw here?"

"Yes, bless him! Only wait till we meet."

"Oh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Jenny, and then she turned to go; but Claud caught her arm.

"No, no; you might say something kind now you've found out you're wrong."

"Very well then, I will, Claud Wilton. First of all, I never cared a bit for you, and--"

"Don't believe you. Go on," he said, laughing.

"Secondly, take my advice and go away at once, for if my brother should meet you there will be a terrible scene. He believes horrible things of you, and I know he'll kill you."

"Phew!" whistled Claud. "Then he has found out?"

"Take my advice and go. He is terrible when he is roused, and I don't know what he'd do."

"I say, this ain't gammon, is it?"

"It is the solemn truth. Now loose my arm; you hurt me."

"Well, it's all right, then, and perhaps it's for the best I am going off to-night to hunt out Harry Dasent. I should have gone before, but I had to be about with the guv'nor, making inquiries."

"Then loose my arm at once, and go before it is too late."

"It is too late," thundered a voice out of the gloom. "Jenny--sister-- is this you?"

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

Jenny uttered a faint cry, and staggered against the iron hurdle, bringing down a shower of drops upon her head.

Leigh, after his words, uttered first in menace, then in a bitterly reproachful tone, paid no more heed to her, but turned fiercely upon Claud.

"Now, sir," he cried; "have the goodness to--You scoundrel! You dog!"

He began after the fas.h.i.+on taught by education, but nature was too strong. He broke off and tried to seize Claud by the throat; but, active as the animal mentioned, the young fellow avoided the onslaught, placed one hand upon the hurdle, and sprang over among the shrubs.

Leigh followed him in time to receive blow after blow, as the branches through which Claud dashed sprang back, cutting him in the face and drenching him with water. Guided, though, by the sounds, he followed as quickly as he could, till all at once the rustling and crackling of branches ceased, and he drew up short on the soft turf of a lawn, listening for the next movement of his quarry, but listening in vain.

A minute later the dogs began barking violently, and Leigh's thoughts turned to his sister. Then to Claud again, and he hesitated as to whether he should go to the house and insist upon seeing him. But his reason told him that he could not leave Jenny there in the wet and darkness, and with his teeth set hard in his anger and despair, he tried to find his way back to the place where he had come over into the garden, missing it, and coming to the conclusion that his sister had fled, for though he peered in all directions on crossing the hurdles, he could see no sign of her in the misty darkness.

As it happened he was not above a dozen yards from where she stood clinging to the dripping iron rail; and when with an angry exclamation he turned to make for the pathway, her plaintive voice arose:

"Please take me with you, Claud," she said. "I am so faint and cold!"

He turned upon her with a suppressed roar, caught her by the arm, dragged it under his, and set off through the dripping gra.s.s with great strides, but without uttering a word.

She kept up with him as long as she could, weeping bitterly the while, and blinding herself with her tears so that she could not see which way they went. Twice over she stumbled and would have fallen, had not his hold been so tight upon her arm, and at last, totally unable to keep up with him, she was about to utter a piteous appeal, when he stopped short, for they had reached the wet and muddy stile.

Here he loosed her arm, and sprang over into the road.

"Give me your hands," he cried, and she obeyed, and then as he reached over, she climbed the stile, stepping on to the top rail at last.

"Jump," he said, sharply; and she obeyed, but slipped as she alighted, one foot gliding over the muddy surface, and in spite of his strong grasp upon her hands, she fell sideways, and uttered a sharp cry.

"No hysterical nonsense, now, girl," he cried. "Get up!"

"I--I can't, Pierce. Oh, pray, don't be so cruel to me, please."

"Get up!" he cried, more sternly.

"My ankle's twisted under me," she said, faintly. "I--I--!"

A piteous sigh ended her speech, and she sank nerveless nearly to the level, but a sudden s.n.a.t.c.h on his part saved her from falling p.r.o.ne.

Then bending down, he raised her, quite insensible, in his arms, drew her arm over his shoulders, and strode on again, the pa.s.sionate rage and indignation in his breast nerving him so that she seemed to possess no weight at all.

For another agony had come upon him, just when life seemed to have suddenly become unbearable, and there were moments when it appeared to be impossible that the bright girl who had for years past been to him as his own child could have behaved in so treacherous, so weak and disgraceful a way as to have listened to the addresses of the young scoundrel who seemed to have blasted his life.

"And she always professed to hold him in such contempt," he said to himself. "Great heavens! Are all women alike in their weakness and folly?"

He reached the cottage at last, where all was now dark; but the door yielded to his touch, and he bore her in, and laid her, still insensible, upon the sofa.

Upon striking a light, and holding a candle toward her face, he uttered a deep sigh, for she was ghastly pale, her hair was wet and clinging to her temples, and he could see that she was covered with the sticky, yellowish clay of the field and lane. But he steeled his breast against her. It was her punishment, he felt; and treating her as if she were some patient and a stranger, he took off her wet cloak and hood, threw them aside, and proceeded to examine for the injury.

But little examination was necessary, and his brow grew more deeply lined as he quickly took out a knife, slit her wet boot from ankle to toe, and set her foot at liberty.

Then lighting another candle, he walked sharply into his surgery, and returned with splints and bandages, to find her eyes open, and that she was gazing at him wildly.

"Where am I? What is the matter?" she cried, hysterically. "This dreadful pain and sickness!"

"At home. Lie still," he said, coldly. "Your ankle is badly hart."