"Only take care," said he, "that it isn"t a clog or a boy that comes out of the bushes."
"What if I shoot you?" she said.
"You can"t shoot me, any more than you can shoot yourself. I shall go up the hill a bit to overlook you, and if it should be a dog, I"ll shout out before you murder him."
Here the long, low, steady call of Spiegelmann"s horn was heard, with Hermann"s reply.
"When the next horn calls, you may begin to look out. Hold out your hand."
She held out her right hand, wonderingly, and showed him the small white fingers.
"It is quite steady; but your heart beats."
"It generally does," she said, with a smile. "It is a weakness, I know, but--"
Here the fine antic.i.p.atory flourish of the keeper"s bugle again came echoing through the trees. Will gave over the gun to her, told her to take time and not be afraid, and then retired somewhat farther up the hill. He ensconced himself behind a tall grey pine, whence, without being seen, he could command a view of the entire length of brushwood, and of Miss Brunel in her place of concealment.
"If she only remains cool," he thought, "she is certain to be successful."
Once only she looked round and up the hill towards him, and there was a sort of constrained smile about her lips.
"I am afraid she is getting frightened," he thought now.
The intense sultry silence of the place certainly heightened her nervous expectation, for she could distinctly hear her heart thumping against her side. Expectancy became a positive pain-an agony that seemed to be choking her; but never for a moment did she think of abandoning her post.
Meanwhile Will"s experienced eye failed to detect the least motion among the bushes, nor could he hear the faintest noise from the dogs. Yet Hermann had told him that this was one of the best beats in the neighbourhood; and so he patiently waited, knowing that it was only a matter of time.
At length one of the dogs was heard to bellow forth his joyous discovery. Will"s breath began to come and go more quickly, in his intense anxiety that his pupil should distinguish herself at the approaching crisis. Then it seemed to him that at some distance off he saw one or two of the young firs tremble, when there was not a breath of wind to stir them.
He watched these trees and the bushes adjoining intently, but they were again quite motionless; the dog, too, only barked at intervals. All at once, however, he saw, coming down a lane in the brushwood, two branched yellow tips, which paused and remained stationary, with only a single bush between them and the open s.p.a.ce fronting Miss Brunel. They were the horns of a deer which now stood there, uncertain by which way to fly from the dogs behind him.
"If she could only catch sight of these horns," he said to himself, "and understand to fire through the bush, she would kill him to a certainty."
Evidently, however, she did not see the horns; perhaps her position prevented her. So, with his own heart beating rapidly now, Will waited for the moment when the dogs would drive the deer out into the clear sunlight, immediately underneath the muzzle of her gun.
A sharp bark from one of the beagles did it. Will saw the light spring of the deer out into the open, and the same glance told him that Annie Brunel had shrunk back with a light cry, and that the gun, balanced for a moment on the edge of the ma.s.s of roots, was about to fall on the ground.
At the same moment he received an astounding blow on the side that nearly knocked him over; and his first instinct was that of an Englishman-to utter an oath, clench his fist, and turn round to find a face to strike at. But before the instinct had shaped itself into either thought or action, the sudden spasm pa.s.sed into a sort of giddiness; he fancied the pine-tree before him wavered, put out his hand to guard himself, and then fell, with a loud noise in his ears.
When Miss Brunel saw the gun tumble on the ground and heard the report, she clasped her hands over her eyes in a vague instantaneous horror of any possible result. The next moment she looked up, and there was a black ma.s.s lying on the ground behind the tall tree. Her only thought was that he lay dead there as she ran to him, and knelt down by him, and caught him round the neck. White-lipped, trembling in every limb, and quite unconscious of what she did, she put her head down to his, and spoke to him. There were three words that she uttered in that moment of delirious pity, and self-reproach, and agony, which it was as well he did not hear; but uttered they were, never to be recalled.
When he came to himself, he saw a white face bending over him, and had but a confused notion of what had occurred. With a vigorous effort, however, mental and physical, he pulled himself together and got into a sitting posture.
"I must have given you such a fright through my stupidity," he said; but all the time he wondered to see a strange look in her eyes-a look he had never seen there before _off the stage_-as she knelt by him and held his hand in hers. She did not speak; she only looked at him, with a vague absent delight, as if she were listening to music.
"Poor creature!" he thought, "she does not know how to say that she is sorry for having hurt me."
So he managed to get up a quite confident smile, and struggled to his feet, giving her his hand to raise her also.
"I suppose you thought you had killed me," he said, with a laugh, "but it was only the fright knocked me over. I am not hurt at all. Look here, the charge has lodged in the tree."
He showed her a splinter or two knocked off the bark of the tree, and a few round holes where the buck-shot had lodged; but at the same time he was conscious of a warm and moist sensation creeping down his side, and down his arm likewise. Further, he pretended not to see that there was a line of red blood trickling gently over his hand, and that her dress had already caught a couple of stains from the same source.
"What"s that?" she said, with a terrified look, looking from her own hand, which was likewise stained, to his. "It is blood-you have been hurt, and you won"t tell me. Don"t be so cruel," she added, piteously; "but tell me what I am to do, for I know you are hurt. What shall I do?
Shall I run to Hermann? Shall I go for the Count? There is no water about here--"
"Sit down on those ferns-that"s what you must do," said Will, "and don"t distress yourself. I suppose one of the spent shot has scratched me, or something like that; but it is of no importance, and you mustn"t say anything about it. When the drive is over, I shall walk home. If I had only a little-a little--"
By this time he had sate down, and as he uttered the words, another giddiness came over him, and ha would have fallen back had she not hastily caught him and supported him.
"It is the blood," he said, angrily; "one would think I couldn"t afford to lose as much as the scratch of a penknife would let. Will you allow me to take off my coat?-and if you could tie a handkerchief tightly round my arm--"
"Oh, why did you not ask me to do so before?" she said, as she helped to uncover the limb that was by this time drenched in blood.
"Think of what the deer would have suffered, if you had hit him instead of me," said Will, with a ghastly smile. "He was a dozen yards nearer you. You seem to like long shots."
But there was a mute pleading look in her eyes that seemed to appeal against his banter. She seemed to say to him by that dumb expression, "You wrong me. You try to make us strangers by that a.s.sumed fun. You do it to cheer me; but you make me a stranger to you, for you are not honest with me."
And somehow he read the meaning of her face; and said to her, in a low voice-
"Shall I be frank with you? This accident is likely to make us too close friends; and it is better I should return to England, if you remain here."
For a moment their eyes met-on his side revealing a secret which she inwardly shuddered to read there-on hers repeating only that mystic, unfathomable expression which he remembered to have seen when he awakened out of his dream.
That was all of explanation that pa.s.sed between them. She knew now his secret, and by the sudden light of the revelation she looked swiftly back over some recent occurrences, and saw the purport of them written in words of fire. Her eyes fell; her own secret was safe; but this new burden of consciousness was almost as difficult to bear.
At this moment the Count and Hermann came up, followed by the nearest keepers and beaters.
"There has been a slight accident," said Will, briefly. "Get some one to carry my gun; and I"ll walk back to Schonstein."
"If you would like to ride," said Hermann-who, with the others, was quite deceived by Will"s manner-"you can get Hans Halm"s _wagen_, that was waiting for the baskets and things. Spiegelmann will show you the way. You are not badly hurt?"
"Not at all; not at all. Miss Brunel, will you continue with the party?"
"No," she said, firmly; "I am going back to Schonstein."
"And I," said the Count. "I can"t allow you to go unattended. I don"t care about any more shooting--"
"Nonsense," said Will (with an inward conviction that two minutes" more talking would find him stretched on the ground); "go on with your sport; and I"ll come out to meet you in the evening."
Fortunately, when they reached the shaky old travelling-carriage outside the forest, they found some wine, a good draught of which somewhat revived the wounded man. The hampers and other things were speedily thrown out, and, Spiegelmann having returned to the shooting-party, Will and Miss Brunel got into the vehicle and were driven homewards.
Neither spoke a single word all the way. Once, and quite inadvertently, her hand touched his; and she drew it away. The next moment she looked into his face, and perhaps saw some slight shade of vexation there, for she immediately covered his stained fingers with her own. It was as though she said, "I know your sad secret, but we may at least continue friends."
CHAPTER XIX.