"Yes, he might die here. Let us save him. 'The Rest' is not so far off."
"'The Rest?' No, no; our cottage is nearest. He might die before we could get him to 'The Rest.' My father will be there. Oh, I am sure my father will be there!"
Ruth spoke eagerly, as if some one had disputed her.
"He will be coming this way," she added, "and so help us. Come, come, let us try!"
Before the two girls could test their strength, footsteps were heard coming along the path.
"It is my father. Oh, now he can be carried to the cottage in safety."
CHAPTER XXI.
BOTH HUSBAND AND FATHER.
THE two girls stood up and listened. The footsteps came forward swiftly, and with a light touch of the ground; too light, Ruth felt, with a sinking heart, for the heavy tread of her father. She had not the courage to cry out now. It seemed as if some one were coming to take that precious charge from her forever. This fear broke into a faint exclamation when she saw Sir Noel Hurst coming toward them more swiftly than she had ever seen him walk before. Without uttering a word, he came up to where the young man was lying, and bent over him in dead silence, as if unconscious that any other human being was near.