Ferrars not half way over the fields.
There was a loud cry from Lucy.--'He is caught! caught!'
A loud shout came back, was caught up, and sent on by both the
pursuers, 'All right!'
Albinia had stood in an almost annihilation of conscious feeling.
Even when her brother strode back to her repeating 'All safe, thanks
be to God,' she neither spoke nor relaxed that intensity of watching.
A few seconds more, and she sprang forward again as the horse was led
up by a young man at his side; and on his back, laughing and
chattering, sat Master Maurice. Algernon Dusautoy strode a few steps
behind, somewhat aggrieved, but that no one saw.
The elder Maurice lifted down the younger one, who, as he was clasped
by his mother, exclaimed, 'Oh! mamma, Bamfylde went so fast! I am to
ride home again! He said so--he's my cousin!'
Albinia scarcely heard; her brother however had turned to thank the
stranger for her, and exclaimed, 'I should say you were an O'More.'
'I'm Ulick, from the Loughside Lodge,' was the answer. 'Is cousin
Winifred here?'
'No, this is my sister, Mrs. Kendal, but--'
Albinia held out her hand, and grasped his; 'I can't--Maurice,
speak,' she said.
The little Maurice persisted in his demand to be remounted for the
twelve yards to their own gate, but nobody heard him; his uncle was
saying a few words of explanation to the stranger, and Algernon
Dusautoy was enunciating something intended as a gracious reception
of the apologies which no one was making.
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