So, giving orders to the driver to go on to the village and wait for me there, I took my stout walking-stick, fixed it as firmly as I could in the muddy bottom of the ditch, and reached the opposite side I scarcely know how.
“Bravo! well done!” cried Francis, clapping her hands with delight.
As I approached I raised my hat, and she saluted with her riding-whip.
“This is an amusing adventure, sir,” she said, again laughing; “if you still wish to go to Werve you must cross the heath.”
“Is it a long walk?”
“No, it is much shorter than by the high-road, but as you don’t know the way, you run the risk of getting lost again.”
“You forget that I have a claim on your company for the rest of the way.”
“A claim! how do you make that out?”
“Miss Mordaunt promised me an interview; is it strange that I should seize the first occasion that offers?”
“I don’t even know the way myself. My horse has lost a shoe, and I have left him at the game-keeper’s, so I shall have to get home as well as I can without assistance. Have you really business at the Castle? I can assure you the General has an aversion to visitors!”