"That isn't so," replied the aristocratic bully, glibly. "I didn't jump at all."
"You didn't."
"No, I was pitched out. I stood up to get a better hold on the reins, and just then the carriage lurched, and out I went."
"Oh, well, then, that's different," replied Dan Pickley, who did not think it to his advantage to question the veracity of Percy's explanation. "Mrs. Carrington seemed to think you had jumped out because you were scared."
"And did her daughter seem to think so, too?" asked Percy, his anxiety increasing.
"I don't know but what she did. You had better hunt them up and explain matters."
"I will. I suppose the reason they didn't come back for me is because they were in a hurry to get to Eastport and see Mr. Carrington before he went off to Chambersburgh."
"They didn't say what they were in a hurry about," returned Dan Pickley.
Percy saw that Ralph was now approaching, and not wishing, for various reasons, to encounter the young bridge tender while in such a woe-begone condition, he turned on his heel and walked back toward Westville.
Ralph could not help but laugh at the discomfiture of the young bully. He had overheard a good part of the conversation, and he was satisfied that Percy was, for once at least, more than "taken down."