“A moment ago I was a girl and did not realize. Now I know. Oh, Hadyn, Hadyn, come safely back to us!” and still holding that life-saving little riding-crop she laid her head down upon the beautiful neck and sobbed as though her heart would break.
Animals which are constantly with human beings learn to understand the tones which varying emotions govern, just as a human being learns to understand the wonderful language of the so-called dumb creatures. Comet had been Hadyn’s closest companion for years, and during the past six months had been petted and cared for by all in Mrs. Carruth’s home. But it was Constance whom he had grown to love best; Constance who rode him when Hadyn was at his office; and many a delightful hour’s exercise had she taken on the splendid horse.
Very gradually Comet came back to the world of real things around him. The great eyes opened and the delicate nostrils quivered. There was a slight effort to rise, but close to his ear murmured the voice he had learned to love and obey as an army horse obeys the voice of his master.
“Steady, Comet! Dear, dear Comet, keep quiet. There, old fellow! There! Steady! steady!”
The ears were turned to catch each tone; the eyes shone with a human intelligence; the nostrils breathed audibly, but the horse lay as quiet as though life had departed, and Constance did not move.
How long the minutes seemed! How far away from human aid that mountain road! How solemn, how silent the great woodland, stretching, stretching away in a vista of glorious colors! Overhead the soft October winds whispered and sighed in the tree-tops; and with each sigh a few brilliant leaves fluttered to the ground—dear Nature’s coverlid for some baby growth to be nestled for its long winter’s sleep. Far away the crows cawed and called to one another. Overhead, ominous shadow! a hawk circled. And then, as though to dispel a sign so baleful, clear, sweet, exquisite as a voice from Paradise, came the liquid notes of a hermit thrush—a late lingerer whom his mates had left behind when they took flight to sunnier climes against the coming of bitter days.
The notes brought comfort to the girl. She had always loved them. No other bird-call meant so much to her as this, for it was associated with some of the sweetest and, yes, the saddest experiences of her life, and now it held a meaning it had never before held. All her life these notes would stand above all others. The experience was, indeed, bittersweet. She did not know how long she had lain there, for time seemed at a standstill, when along the ground she heard the rapid thud, thud of a horse’s flying feet, and raising her head she saw Hadyn returning, Lightfoot in a lather and his flanks heaving. Hadyn flung himself from the horse, which was now too spent to do anything but stand and pant, and hurried to Constance’s side. Dropping upon his knees beside her, he drew her into his arms as she rose to her knees from her prone position, though she never for an instant relaxed her hold upon the crop. Comet nickered faintly, but for the first time in his life failed to hear his master’s response to that greeting.
Like a weary little child Constance let her head fall, upon the shoulder so near it, and whispered:
“Oh, Hadyn, the minutes have seemed so long to us!”
“My little girl! my little girl! Dear, dear heart!—so courageous, so brave, so strong! So perfect a woman in your tenderness combined with your strength. This hour has shown me what you are to me; what life would be without you. I thought I knew before, but I did not. And you, dear heart?”