There was something she had to say when they had all finished talking. What was it? She had almost forgotten. Oh, yes. Taking one uncertain step toward the Duke of Kilkenty, she looked inquiringly in his face.
“Are you little Arthur’s father?” she asked. “If you are, you should know that this young man saved his life not long ago on board ship.”
“So much the better for you, then,” said the Duke to Feargus.
Turning on his heel, he strode across the fields. Billie remembered very little more after that. Mary must have run the “Comet” to the city of St. Albans and Feargus ridden with them, for she heard him say:
“Devil incarnate.”
She also gathered that he was walking from London to St. Albans and expected to meet Mr. Kalisch there.
A doctor was sent for as soon as they arrived at the inn, and with a poultice on her side and a bandage on her head, Billie at last dropped off to sleep.
CHAPTER XIV.—OXFORD.
Youth asserts itself quickly after a shock. That is, when it is wholesome youth with a good appetite and a good circulation, and after one day in bed Billie was up and about, eager to be on the road again.
But the incident of the bull and the encounter with the Duke of Kilkenty had set Miss Campbell thinking.