.

THE RESCUE.
Some precious moments did I waste standing with that green rag betwixt my fingers, and I grew sick and numb in body and in mind.

She was gone! Carried off by a man I had reason to believe she hated, and whom God send she might have no motive to hate more deeply hereafter! The ugly thought swelled until it blotted out all others, and in its train there came a fury upon me that drove me to do by instinct that which earlier I should have done by reason.

I climbed back into the saddle, and away across the meadow I went, journeying at an angle with the road, my horse's head turned in the direction of Blois.

That road at last was gained, and on I thundered at a stretched gallop, praying that my hard-used beast might last until the town was reached.
Now, as I have already said, I am not a man who easily falls a prey to excitement.