“None of your business,” the child snapped.
“Then it may not be my business to keep your secret,” he retorted.
She was silent for a moment as though thinking it over. “The horse shied at a hound on the bank and I fell off,” she replied reluctantly.
“How did it hurt you?” Scott insisted.
Again there was a pause as though she was struggling with herself. “I have a knot on my head and my leg hurts,” she answered grudgingly.
Scott had found out what he wanted to know. “I promise not to tell,” he said.
She did not thank him. A hound barked on the left-hand side of the road. The horse stopped. She called to the hound and he stopped barking instantly.
“Let me down from here,” she commanded.
Scott could see no reason for holding her longer. He balanced her on the horse’s withers and slipped to the ground. He reached up to help her. She tried to avoid him but he caught her and it was well that he did, for when her foot touched the ground she uttered a sharp gasp and sank limply. He thought for a second that she had fainted.
“Call granddad,” she commanded in a voice pinched with pain.