"I can't let her lie here," he reflected. "I wonder if she's very heavy."
He tried to lift her, but, failing in the attempt, dragged her into the hedgerow where the hedge would shelter her a little from the rain. Having done that, he was about to start running for Hatwell Green, when the sound of a horse galloping along the road fell on his ears, and he waited. Nearer and nearer came the horse, urged on by a voice which struck familiarly on the listener's ears.
"It's Moses Lee!" Tom exclaimed joyfully. "Hi, stop!" he shouted; "stop!"
[CHAPTER XII]
THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
"OH, Tom, how wonderful—wonderful that you should have found her, and that Moses Lee should have come along just at the very minute he was wanted; and, oh, do go on and tell me what happened next!"
It was the afternoon of the first day of the Fair, and the scene was the garden at Halcyon Villa, where, in the shadow of an arbutus tree, Tom Burford and Peter Perry sat on a seat talking, and regaling themselves with fairing in the shape of sweets and ginger-bread nuts which the former had brought with him. This was the first time they had met since Tom's experiences on Saturday, to an account of which Peter had been listening with the liveliest interest. Tom had come to a dramatic pause after having told how he had stopped Moses Lee.
"Well," he continued, in answer to his companion's eager request for further information, "of course Moses Lee was tremendously surprised when he pulled up, and I made him understand what a fix I was in; but he didn't say much—only, 'We'd best take the little maid to my missus.' Then he got off his horse and let me ride it, and he picked Grace up and carried her on to Hatwell Green, and gave her to his wife to look after. Of course I explained everything as well as I could, and as soon as I'd done that I went home. Fortunately I got there before Mother and Father returned, after all, and weren't they amazed when they heard all that had happened! Oh, Peter, wasn't it shockingly wicked of those Sordellos to make Grace go into the cage with Hero! It must have been frightfully dangerous, you know!"
"Frightfully! But she'll never have to do it again now, will she?" Peter inquired anxiously.
"Never! That's settled. Moses Lee has been to see the Sordellos, and has told them they shall never have charge of Grace again. They were awfully abusive to him, and at first declared that she wasn't his brother's child. But she is. There are some people travelling with the menagerie (a Mr. and Mrs. Rumbelow, a dwarf and his wife—a fat lady) who can prove it. They knew Grace's father and her mother, too. Well, when the Sordellos found that that lie did them no good, they offered Moses money to get Grace back, but he told them 'no,' and when they found he meant it there was a most dreadful row. It's not wonderful that the Sordellos are furiously angry, because if Grace doesn't appear as 'Una,' it will be a great loss to them. Mr. Dumbell will cut Max's pay, it seems. But Grace will never be 'Una' again."