IN THE HIDING-SCHOOL. 79 



she should be very seriously injured when thrown 

 at last, but all the time she was talking to Ronald 

 in a voice carefully kept at a low pitch, and her 

 hands were held with a steadiness utterly new 

 to them, and the good horse went on regularly, 

 but faster and faster. 



" That isn't a real runaway," said the master 

 to himself. " Ah, I see ! her whip is down and 

 strikes him at every stride, and so she uncon- 

 sciously urges him forward. If there were a 

 side road here, I'd gallop around and meet her, 

 or if there were fields on either side, I'd leap 

 the fence and make a circuit and cut her off, 

 but through this place, with banks like a rail- 

 way cutting on each side, there is nothing to 

 do." 



Swifter and swifter ! Esmeralda began to feel 

 weaker, thought of Theodore, and of some other 

 things of which she never told even him, said a 

 little prayer, but all the time remembered her 

 master's injunctions, and kept her place firmly, 

 waiting for the final, and, as she believed, inevi- 

 table crash, when lo ! she saw that just in front 

 of her lay a long piece of half-mended road, full 

 of ugly little stones, and she turned Ronald on 



