Country life -- England -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Families -- Fiction; Mate selection -- Fiction
She found herself struggling with all her might to lift the weight from
him, and then came suddenly to herself and ran as fast as she could down
the hill to get help. Her face was bruised and bleeding, and her arm
hung by her side useless, though she knew that it was not broken. She
was hurt, too, where it had been pressed into her body, and every breath
she drew was a sharp twinge. But she ran the whole way to the house, and
managed to give clear and quick instructions to the men she found in the
stables. She would have gone up with them, but Miss Waterhouse, who had
seen her running across the park, came out and insisted upon her coming
in. When she got indoors she collapsed, for she was rather badly hurt.
Bradby was hurt very seriously. He had seen the bough crack and begin to
fall, directly towards where they were standing. Caroline was standing
with her back towards it. He might have got out of the way himself, but
there would have been no time to warn her, or even drag her out of
danger. To throw her into the hollow was the only chance, and the bough
caught him before he could jump in after her. The fallen trunk
fortunately took the weight of the great bough, which if it had fallen
to the ground must have killed them both. But the branch, an elbow of
which had crushed Caroline, had struck Bradby down. It had broken both
his thighs, and he had ribs broken besides, and internal injury which
made his life hang in the balance for as long as Caroline took to
recover from her lesser hurt.
He was said to be just out of danger when she was well enough to leave
her room, and in two days, when she had practically recovered and could
go out again, he was said to be going to get quite well, though he would
have to lie up for many weeks yet.
He had been moved down to the Abbey, and was installed there with a
couple of nurses, one of whom was able to leave him in a week. When
Caroline first saw him he had altered so as to give her a shock of
dismay. He was thin and gaunt and pale, but his great dark eyes stood
out of his face in such a way as to bring out its essential refinement.
The immaturity of his features seemed to have been wiped out; he was
almost handsome, with his shock of dark hair spread over his pillow, and
his long, pale, thin face with the fine eyes.
His mother was with him--a gentle sweet-faced woman, with the same
beautiful eyes, but no other resemblance to this ugly duckling of a son.
He must have inherited his strength and ruggedness from his father, of
whom a photograph stood on his mantelpiece. There were photographs of
his brothers and sisters too--good-looking men and girls, more like
their mother than he was. His father had come when he was at his worst,
but had gone back to his parish, and Caroline had not seen him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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