"So! you are safe!" said the former. "By Heavens, if they had hurt you!"
"And you?" asked Clara, very quickly and eagerly, while scanning him from head to foot.
Coronado saw that look, anxious for Thurstane alone; and, master of dissimulation though he was, his face showed both pain and anger.
"Ah—oh—oh dear!" groaned Mrs. Stanley, as she made her appearance in the front of the vehicle. "Well! this is rather more than I can bear. This is just as much as a woman can put up with. Dear me! what is the matter with your arm, Lieutenant?"
"Just a pin prick," said Thurstane.
Clara began to get out of the wagon, with the purpose of going to him, her eyes staring and her face pale.
"Don't!" he protested, motioning her back. "It is nothing."
And, although the lacerated arm hurt him and was not easy to manage, he raised it over his head to show that the damage was trifling.
"Do get in here and let us take care of you," begged Clara.
"Certainly!" echoed Aunt Maria, who was a compassionate woman at heart, and who only lacked somewhat in quickness of sympathy, perhaps by reason of her strong-minded notions.