"It is very terrible for him," thought the little girl pityingly. "I suppose he will be more or less ill all his life. Oh, dear, how sad that is! He has been very kind to me—kinder almost than anyone; I wish I could do something for him."
A rustling in the brushwood which bordered the lake on one side interrupted her train of thought at this point, and as she glanced in the direction from which the sound came, she saw a movement in the under-growth of high ferns and brambles.
"Lion! Lion!" she called, thinking the mastiff was coming in search of her; "is that you, old boy?"
It was not Lion, however, but another dog—a lean lurcher with a rabbit in its mouth—which emerged from the brushwood, and without taking any notice of Felicia, made off as fast as its long legs could carry it in the direction of the high road. It was gone in an instant, leaving Felicia amazed at the speed with which it had disappeared from sight. She reflected that the dog most probably belonged to the gipsies, who had doubtless trained it to do a little poaching on its own account, and she felt glad her grandfather had not seen it.
But if Mr. Renford had not seen the trespasser on his property, someone else had, for a few minutes later a tall man—clad in a much worn suit of brown corduroy velvet and carrying a gun—came crashing through the brushwood with a spaniel at his heels. The newcomer proved to be Brown—Mr. Renford's head gamekeeper. When he saw Felicia, he came up to her and spoke to her.
"Have you seen a strange dog about, miss?" he inquired.
"Yes," she replied; "a thin, long-legged dog, do you mean?"
"Yes, a lurcher—that's the one. Which way did it go, miss?"
Felicia pointed with her finger in the direction of the high road, and explained that the dog had had a rabbit in its mouth, hearing which Brown grew quite excited and red with indignation.
"I caught sight of it behind the elms," he said, "and followed it, but it was too quick for me. I saw it was carrying something. If I'd been within gun shot it should not have got away like that."