Part 39 (2/2)
”Destroy it,” he said promptly.
She smiled at him, the tears still on her cheeks. ”That's fine of you.
Bunny, I haven't got a handkerchief.”
He gave her his, still looking grim. She dried her eyes and got up. The hare, recovering somewhat, gave her a frightened stare and slipped away into the undergrowth. She looked up at Bunny.
”I'm sorry I was angry,” she said. ”Are you cross with me?”
He relaxed a little. ”Not particularly.”
”Don't be!” she said tremulously. ”I couldn't help it. He suffered so horribly, and I know--I know so well what it felt like.”
”How do you know?” said Bunny.
Her look fell before his. She made an odd movement of shrinking. He put his arm swiftly round her.
”Never mind the wretched hare! He's got away this time anyway. And I'm not at all sure you didn't have the worst of it. Feeling better now?”
She nodded. ”Yes, much better. I like you, Bunny, but I can't help thinking you're rather cruel. You didn't want to kill the poor thing?”
”I think it was rather prolonging the agony to let him live,” said Bunny.
”Let me see your hands!”
She tried to hide them, but he was insistent, and at length impulsively she yielded.
”You must come down to old Bishop's and bathe them,” he said.
She shook her head instantly. ”No, Bunny, I'm not going to. I'll run down to the lake if you like. There's sure not to be anyone there.”
”All right,” said Bunny, but he lingered still with his arm about her.
”Will you kiss me, Toby?” he said suddenly.
”No,” she said, and swiftly averted her face.
His arm tightened for a second, then he felt her brace herself against him and let her go. ”All right,” he said again. ”We'll go down to the lake.”
She threw him a swift glance of surprise, but he turned away to release Chops and unfasten his horse without further discussion.
Their way lay along a gra.s.s ride that ran beside the larch wood. Bunny walked gravely along, leading his horse. Toby moved lightly beside him.
Behind them the silence closed like the soft folds of a curtain, but it was not a silence devoid of life. As they drew away from the place, a man stepped out from the larches and stood motionless, watching them. A whimsical smile that was not without bitterness hovered about his mouth.
As they pa.s.sed from sight, he turned back into the trees and walked swiftly and silently away.
It was nearly a mile across the park to the lake in the hollow, and the boy and girl tramped it steadily with scarcely a word. Chops walked sedately by Toby's side, occasionally poking his nose under her hand.
Bunny's face was stern. He had the look of a man who moved with a definite goal in view.
They came to the beechwood that surrounded the lake. The Castle from its height looked down over the terraced gardens upon one end of the water.
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