"Hadn't you better both sit down?" asked the young man. "The dog didn't touch her, Mrs. Dunn,—thank God, he didn't! She's only had a fright."
"Mother, he saved me!" Nannie said. "I should have been bitten but for him!" And Nancy burst into a flood of tears.
* * * * * *
Yes, Archie Stuart had saved Nancy—at his own risk—from one of the most terrible perils which can well beset a man or woman.
When the thought of helping somebody had occurred to him, he could not, of course, guess who that somebody might be.
Nancy had failed to find exactly what she wanted at the nearest shop in the next street: so she had gone farther. Halfway home she found that a small pattern for the colour of the thread, which she knew her mother would need, had been left behind.
Dick offered to run back for it, and Nancy, feeling tired, consented. She promised to wait for Dick a quiet sort of back lane, which had a high wall on either side, broken only by one five-barred gate, leading into a yard, and locked. Nancy did not even notice the gate.
She had strolled but a few paces, when a burst of yells filled the air.
What could be the cause? Nancy felt a little afraid. She wished too that she had not sent Dick off alone.
Scant time remained for thought. The shouts drew nearer, and the warning cry,—"A mad dog!" reached Nancy's ears distinctly. Almost at the same instant, a black dog appeared at the farthest end of the lane, running straight towards her, dropping foam from his open jaws and hanging tongue.