And well might Ellinor pause in wonder and affright as she shrank under the shadow of a hedge, for to the fierce imprecations of Sir Redmond, and the angry snarling of the dog, were added the swearing of the valet, John Gaiters, and the shouts of the brougham driver.
By the time the dog let go and trotted leisurely to the house, there was nothing left for Sir Redmond and his two attendants but an ignominious retreat, and they drove off accordingly.
To Sleath it was a matter for the fiercest exasperation that his carefully matured and well-laid scheme to entrap a beautiful and well-nigh friendless girl—a scheme on the very verge of its fruition—had been baffled, and baffled so absurdly, so grotesquely, and with so much physical agony, by 'an accursed cur which he would yet shoot like a rat,' as he hissed through his clenched teeth.
And Sleath was, strange to say, the more furious because he had meditated a perfidy towards Ellinor.
Terror of the dog's bite and probable hydrophobia made her would-be lover nearly beside himself. He came no more near Birkwoodbrae, so, for the present, she was safe from him. His pedestrianism was effectually marred for several days, and even had he been able to concoct any fresh nefarious scheme, events were about to occur at Birkwoodbrae beyond the conception of all.
However, on the day of the projected elopement, he had made all his arrangements for leaving Craigmhor, and, having formally bade adieu to Lord Dunkeld's household, he could not return, and had to carry out his plans for travelling south without the fair companion whom he intended should accompany him. In the snug comfort of a Pullman car he gave loose to the rage and mortification naturally inspired by his most humiliating and grotesque defeat. He drank heavily, and there was a fiendish expression of determination in his face that terrified even his usually stolid valet, Mr. John Gaiters.
Though she heard the shrill voice of Elspat crying,
'Oh, Miss Wellwood, Jack's been up to mischief—fighting with something; his jaws are all over with blood!'
Ellinor knew not precisely what had happened: she only felt that all was over, how or why she knew not; but a revulsion of feeling took possession of her, a flood of tears relieved her, and on her knees by her bedside she thanked Heaven for her escape!