But Rocket did not understand. The wisdom of the old hunter was not hers and she only knew that the woman on her back meant to baulk her of the glories in front. Her rider tried to pull her wide of the black horse, but in vain; she would have the same place. Robert was about twenty yards from her when he jumped and she gathered herself together for a rush. Lady Eliza could not hold her. To her unutterable horror, just as the mare was about to take off, she saw that Robert’s horse had stumbled in landing and was there, in front of her--below her--recovering his feet on the grass. With an effort of strength which those who witnessed it never forgot, she wrenched Rocket’s head aside, almost in mid-air. As they fell headlong, she had time, before her senses went, to see that she had attained her object. For Fullarton stood, unhurt, not five paces from where she lay. CHAPTER XXI THE BROKEN LINK IN an upper room, whose window looked into a mass of bare branches, Lady Eliza lay dying. This last act she was accomplishing with a deliberation which she had given to nothing else in her life; for it was two days since the little knot of horrified sportsmen had lifted her on to the hurdle which someone had run to fetch from a neighbouring farm. Rocket, unhurt, but for a scratch or two, had rolled over her twice and she had not fallen clear. The hounds had just killed when Cecilia, summoned by a stranger who had pursued her for nearly half a mile, came galloping back to find her unconscious figure laid upon the grass. The men who stood round made way for her as she sprang from her horse. She went down on her knees beside her aunt and took one of her helpless hands. ‘She is not dead?’ she said, looking at Fullarton with wild eyes. She was not dead, and, but for a few bruises, there were no marks to show what had happened; for her injuries were internal, and, when, at last, the endless journey home was over and the two doctors from Kaims had made their examination, Cecilia had heard the truth. The plum-coloured habit might be put away, for its disreputable career was done and Lady Eliza would not need it again. She had had her last ride. In a few days she would come out of the house; but, for the first time, perhaps, since it had known her, she would pass the stable door without going in.