The arrest, however, slight as it was, had had its effect. Belle and Beau suddenly stood still as rocks, and Nora leapt at once from the cart and approached the stranger, who was just scrambling to her feet.
‘Oh, how good, how brave of you!’ she cried. ‘If you had not done that, they might have dashed the cart and me to pieces against the gate. But have you hurt yourself? Are you sure you are all right?’
‘I think I am,’ replied the young woman, as she rose to her feet. ‘They only knocked me down; the wheels did not come near me.’
‘Thank God for that!’ cried Nora earnestly. ‘I should never have forgiven myself if you had been hurt.’
She gazed at the face of the country girl in amazement, for she thought it was the most beautiful she had ever seen. And so it was they first met—Nell and Nora.
END OF VOL. II.
COLSTON AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
