A long shuddering moan--'Oh--oh--oh!' was
all I uttered.
The man, still holding my arm, looked, I thought frightened, into my white
dumb face.
Suddenly he said, in a wild, fierce whisper--
'Never say another word' (I had not uttered one). 'They shan't hurt ye,
Miss; git ye in; I don't care a damn!'
It was an uncouth speech. To me it was the voice of an angel. With a burst
of gratitude that sounded in my own ears like a laugh, I thanked God for
those blessed words.
In a moment more he had placed me in the carriage, and almost instantly we
were in motion--very cautiously while crossing the court, until he had got
the wheels upon the grass, and then at a rapid pace, improving his speed as
the distance increased. He drove along the side of the back-approach to the
house, keeping on the grass; so that our progress, though swaying like that
of a ship in a swell, was very nearly as noiseless.
The gate had been left unlocked--he swung it open, and remounted the box.
And we were now beyond the spell of Bartram-Haugh, thundering--Heaven be
praised!--along the Queen's highway, right in the route to Elverston.
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