A pause; and as if the words were forced from him, drops standing on his brow, he said—
"If I am killed, and you get through, take care that Hermione has her rights!"
She had no space in which to answer him. A glance alone was possible. Then the bend was reached, and with a great swerve they went round, safely so far, but not to safety. Before one breath of relief could be drawn, they saw the road ahead lying level, and in the very middle of it an old ramshackle cart, with no room on either side for them to pass. The owner of the cart was out of sight, and the unharnessed rough pony, browsing in the hedge, lifted his head with a look of mild interest at the thunder of horses' hoofs.
A gasp; a moment's despair; a crash; a sense of everything collapsing; and a brief darkness. Julia came to herself slowly. She sat up, bewildered and faint, but conscious of no injury. At first she could not make out where she was, could not recall exactly what had happened. Only there was an impression of wild rattle and rush; and now all was so still; not a sound to be heard, except leaves rustling near.
It dawned upon her stunned senses that she had been tossed clean out of the dog-cart and over the hedge, falling on a great heap of weeds gathered together for burning, soft almost as a feather-bed. And she felt herself unhurt!
But Harvey!
Julia struggled to her feet. All around seemed to sway and surge, yet she could not attend to such sensations, could not yield to weakness. The other side of the hedge had to be gained, and she hastened along it, seeking vainly for a gate. A gap at length appeared, and Julia fought her way through, heedless of scratches and torn clothes.
Once more upon the road she saw a heap of something not far-off, which her dazzled eyes could with difficulty make out to be the prostrate horses and the shattered remains of cart and carriage, all in one piled-up mass, except that two wheels and much lesser debris were flung loosely around. And Harvey—Harvey—her one agony was for him. As she hurried nearer, trembling and sick with terror, she saw him to be part of the mass, lying half underneath it, while two hoofs of the nearer horse were almost touching his chest. His face was ghastly pale, the eyes wide-open in helpless appeal.
"O Harvey! what can I do? What shall I do?" was Julia's cry.
"Hush don't call out. If Prince begins to struggle, it is all up with me."