A tear fell from her eye, and her chin quivered. With the utmost effort of her will she could not repress these evidences of her disappointment, and with a spasmodic motion she clutched the arm of the driver as if it were that of Destiny and she could hold it back.
So sudden and so powerful was the grasp of her young hand, that it turned the horses out of the road and all but upset the carriage.
With a violent jerk of the reins, the astonished driver pulled them back, and exclaimed with an oath:
"You little wild cat, if you ever d-d-do that again, I will throw you into the d-d-ditch!"
"Excuse me!" she answered humbly, cowering under his angry glances.
"What in the d-d-deuce is the matter?" he asked more kindly, seeing the tears in her eyes.
"I do not know. I am nervous, I guess," she answered sadly.
"Nervous? P-p-pepeeta Aesculapius nervous? I thought her nerves were m-m-made of steel? What is the m-m-matter?" he asked, looking at her anxiously.
His gentleness calmed her, and she answered: "I am sorry to leave a place where I have been so happy. Oh! why cannot we settle down somewhere and stay? I get so tired of being always on the wing. Even the birds have nests to rest in for a little while. Are we never going to have a home?"
"Nonsense, child! What do we want with a h-h-home? It is better to be always on the go. I want my liberty. It suits me best to fly through the heavens like a hawk or swim the deep sea like a shark. A home would be a p-p-prison. I should tramp back and forth in it like a polar bear in a c-c-cage."