Sure enough, our visitor had passed by the front door, and was walking
toward us. Evidently she had heard our voices.
“Don't come here!” cried Euphemia. “You'll be killed! Run! run! The dog
is coming! Why, mercy on us! It's Pomona!”
CHAPTER VIII. POMONA ONCE MORE.
Sure enough, it was Pomona. There stood our old servant-girl, of the
canal-boat, with a crooked straw bonnet on her head, a faded yellow
parasol in her hand, a parcel done up in newspaper under her arm, and an
expression of astonishment on her face.
“Well, truly!” she ejaculated.
“Into the house, quick!” I said. “We have a savage dog!”
“And here he is!” cried Euphemia. “Oh! she will be torn to atoms.”
Straight at Pomona came the great black beast, barking furiously. But
the girl did not move; she did not even turn her head to look at the
dog, who stopped before he reached her and began to rush wildly around
her, barking terribly.
We held our breath. I tried to say “get out!” or “lie down!” but my
tongue could not form the words.
“Can't you get up here?” gasped Euphemia.
“I don't want to,” said the girl.
The dog now stopped barking, and stood looking at Pomona, occasionally
glancing up at us. Pomona took not the slightest notice of him.
“Do you know, ma'am,” said she to Euphemia, “that if I had come here
yesterday, that dog would have had my life's blood.”
“And why don't he have it to-day?” said Euphemia, who, with myself, was
utterly amazed at the behavior of the dog.
“Because I know more to-day than I did yesterday,” answered Pomona. “It
is only this afternoon that I read something, as I was coming here on
the cars. This is it,” she continued, unwrapping her paper parcel, and
taking from it one of the two books it contained. “I finished this part
just as the cars stopped, and I put my scissors in the place; I'll read
it to you.”
Standing there with one book still under her arm, the newspaper half
unwrapped from it, hanging down and flapping in the breeze, she opened
the other volume at the scissors-place, turned back a page or two, and
began to read as follows:
“Lord Edward slowly san-ter-ed up the bro-ad anc-es-tral walk, when
sudden-ly from out a cop-se, there sprang a fur-i-ous hound. The
marsh-man, con-ce-al-ed in a tree expected to see the life's blood of
the young nob-le-man stain the path. But no, Lord Edward did not stop
nor turn his head. With a smile, he strode stead-i-ly on. Well he knew
that if by be-traying no em-otion, he could show the dog that he was
walking where he had a right, the bru-te would re-cog-nize that right
and let him pass un-sca-thed. Thus in this moment of peril his nob-le
courage saved him. The hound, abashed, returned to his cov-ert, and Lord
Edward pass-ed on.
“Foi-led again,” mutter-ed the marsh-man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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