Free did she think, when still within a few paces of her master?
Swift as the wind she flew from the villa in the direction of the river-side, scarce knowing which path she took in her eagerness to escape.
Her footsteps made no sound upon the dewy turf, and she did not hear another footstep hurrying close behind her.
A broad lawn stretched before her, and beyond that a thick plantation.
Her anxiety was to reach this friendly shelter, for the moonlight night was bright and clear as day, and she trembled lest she should be perceived from the windows of the villa.
She was nearing the plantation when an iron hand was laid upon her shoulder, and turning round with a scream of mingled anguish and terror, she confronted Augustus Horton bare-headed in the moonlight.
He had watched her escape from the window of his own apartment, and had lingered long enough to allow her to imagine herself free before he had left the house in pursuit of her.
"So, Cora," he said, "this is the way you repay me for my foolish indulgence. This is how you show your gratitude for being received at Hortonville like a princess! Do you know how we treat runaway slaves in the South?"
"No," answered Cora, with a look of defiance.
"Oh! You don't; I'm afraid they neglected your education in England."