"You expect Dorothy back soon?" Lord Probus questioned, dropping into an easy-chair. "Any minute, my lord. In fact, I expected her back before this." "Jess has been well broken in. I was very careful on that point." And his lordship looked uneasily out of the window. "And then, you know, Dorothy could ride an antelope or a giraffe. She is just as much at ease in a saddle as you are in that easy-chair." "Do you know, I get more and more anxious as the time draws near," his lordship said absently. "It would be an awful blow to me if anything should happen now to postpone the wedding." "Nothing is likely to happen," Sir John said grimly, but with an apprehensive look in his eyes. "Dorothy is in the best of health, and so are you." "Well, yes, I am glad to say I am quite well. And Dorothy, you think, shows no sign of rueing her bargain?" "On the contrary, she has begun to count the days." And Sir John walked to the window and raised the blind a little. "I shall do my best to make her happy," his lordship said, with a smile. "And, bachelor as I am, I think I know what girls like." "There's no doubt about that," was the laughing answer. "But who comes here?" And Sir John ran to the door and stepped out on the terrace. A boy without coat, and carrying his cap in his hand, ran eagerly up to him. His face was streaming with perspiration, and his eyes ready to start out of their sockets. "If you please, sir," he said, in gasps, "your little maid has been and got killed!" "My little maid?" Sir John questioned. "Which maid? I did not know any of the servants were out." "No, not any servant, sir; but your little maid, Miss Dorothy." "My daughter!" he almost screamed. And he staggered up against the porch and hugged one of the pillars for support. "Thrown from her horse, sir, down agin Treliskey Plantation," the boy went on. "Molly Udy says she reckons her neck's broke." Sir John did not reply, however. He could only stand and stare at the boy, half wondering whether he was awake or dreaming.
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