"He is not dead! Oh, Sir Noel, his heart beats. Don't—don't look so! He is not dead!"
"Lady Rose," said the baronet, "you heard—"
The lady shrank back, and faltered out—
"Yes; I heard a shot, and it frightened me."
The baronet made no answer, but bent over his son. The faint signs of life that Lady Rose had discovered were imperceptible to him. But habitual self-command kept his anguish down, and in a low, grave voice, he bade Ruth, whose presence he had not otherwise noticed, run to the mansion, and call help at once.
Ruth obeyed. Her nearest path led under the great cedar trees, where the blackest shadows fell, and she darted that way with a swift step that soon carried her into the darkness. But all at once came a cry out from the gloom, so sharp, so full of agony, that Sir Noel started up, and turned to learn the cause.
It came in an instant, out from the blackness of the cedars; for there Ruth appeared on the edge of the moonlight, pallid, dumb, shivering, with her face half averted, waving her hand back to the shadow.
"What is it? What has frightened you so?" he said.
"Look! look! I cannot see his face; but I know—I know!" she gasped, retreating into the darkness.
Sir Noel followed her, and there, lying as it seemed on a pall flung downward by the huge trees, lay the body of a man perfectly motionless.