Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Country homes -- Fiction; Love stories; Neighbors -- Fiction
“Accident! Don't come near me! I mean it. God, my heart is too full of
vengeance. Accident? Is this blood on my arm accidental? Bah! It was a
deliberate attempt to murder me!”
“You? You too?” she gasped, reeling.
“Yes, they winged me too.”
“Let me see--let me help you!” she cried, coming up to his side,
white-faced and terrified. “I won't stay away! You are hurt. Please!
Please! I am not your enemy.”
For a long minute he held back, savagely resentful, glowering upon her,
then his face softened and his hand went out to clasp hers. “I knew you
had nothing to do with it. Forgive me--forgive my rudeness. Don't be
alarmed about me. Two or three scattered shot struck me in the arm. The
fellow's aim was bad when it came to me. But he--he got the dog! Poor
old Bonaparte! It's as if he were a--a brother; Miss Drake. I loved him
and he loved me.
“You must let me see your arm. I will not take no for an answer. It must
need attention--”
“Believe me, it is nothing. I have tied my handkerchief about it--two
little shot, that's all. The first charge riddled the dog. But I forget.
I am still on your sister's land. At any minute I may be shot from
behind some tree. I--I could n't help crying, Miss Drake. It was
cruel--fiendish! Now, if you 'll permit me, I'll take my dead off of
your land.”
“Stop! I must know about it. Tell me; how did it happen?”
“I can't talk about it to you.”
“Why not? Do you think I condone this outrage? Do you think I can
support such means of warfare? You do not know me, Mr. Shaw; you do not
know an Englishwoman's love of fairness.”
“By Jove, do you mean it?” his eyes lighted up. “But, after all, you
belong to the other camp,” he added dejectedly. “I--I wish to heaven,
Miss Drake, you were not one of them!”
“My brother--Cecil would not have permitted this,” she tried to
apologize, remembering with a cold heart that Lord Bazelhurst had given
the very instructions of which this was the result.
“We can't discuss it, Miss Drake. Some one from your side of the line
killed my dog and then fired at me. I'll admit I was trespassing, but
not until the dog was shot. He was on Lady Bazelhurst's land when he was
shot. It was not until after that that I trespassed, if you are pleased
to call it such. But I was unarmed; hang the luck!”
The way he said it conveyed much to her understanding.
“Tell me, please.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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