By and by the bank cut the view, and when the car went round the curve Ledward’s foot jarred on the brake. A few yards off, a smoky light melted in the headlamp’s beam, and Evelyn saw a cart across the road. Nobody was by the horse, but boots rattled on the stones and a dark figure jumped from a gate.
The cart carried a load of turnips and the horse’s head was down. Where the rope-traces rubbed, the animal’s coat was white, and the steam from its sweating body floated about. In the dazzling beam all was distinct; cart and running driver leaped out of the dark like a cinema picture.
Evelyn knew the man could not reach the horse in time to avoid a collision. Ledward could not stop the car, and the horse was at the side by which he ought to pass. He swerved, let the brake go, and steered for the bank. The wheels went up, the car tilted, and Evelyn was flung about. Ledward stuck to the wheel, the inclined seat got level, and they were in the road.
“All’s right, I think,” Ledward gasped, but Evelyn knew him cool. “There’s not much use in stopping; I don’t expect the fellow would argue logically. Besides, he was forced to open the gate, and if the horse had fronted up the hill it could not have held the load.”
“Don’t talk!” said Evelyn. “There’s another corner.”
“I don’t expect another cart,” Ledward rejoined, and steered round the curve.
For a time Evelyn was quiet. Harry had not boasted; where a risk was justified he did not hesitate. Had he tried to stop, they must have struck the horse. She pictured the broken car, the plunging animal, and herself, battered by its iron shoes. Well, Harry had saved her. He was not at all athletic, but his nerve was good, and she mechanically contrasted him and Kit. Kit was moved by impulse; Harry calculated and went where he resolved to go. Evelyn thought he would go far.
The valley got wide and lights dotted the slope to a river. By and by Evelyn saw noble trees and an abbey behind the branches; then they rolled across a quiet market-place, by a dark tower, and up a broad street. Ledward stopped in front of a white hotel, and they went to the spacious old-fashioned dining-room. Ledward pulled out his watch.
“If we must be back when you stipulate, we ought to start in half an hour.”
“My holidays are not numerous, and since I did steal off, I think I might risk another hour,” said Evelyn with a smile.