"I thought better of myself than that."
"Pride goes before a fall or a faint."
"Oh, dear!" turning paler than ever. "Where is Molly?"
"She is all right," said Charles, hastily, applying the pocket-handkerchief again. "Don't alarm yourself, and pray don't try to get up. You can see just as much of the view sitting down. Molly has gone for the donkey-cart."
"And that dreadful man?"
"That dreadful man has also departed. By-the-way, did you see his face? Would you know him again if the policeman succeeds in finding him?"
"No; I never looked round. I only saw, when he began to run to cut us off at the gate, that he was lame."
"H'm!" said Charles, reflectively. Then more briskly, with a new access of dabbing, "How is the faintness going on?"
"Capitally," replied Ruth, with a faint, amused smile; "but if it does not seem ungrateful, I should be very thankful if I might be spared the rest of the water in the hat, or if it might be poured over me at once, if you don't wish it to be wasted."
"Have I done too much? I imagined my services were invaluable. Let me help you to find your own handkerchief, if you would like a dry one for a change. Ah, what a good shot into that labyrinth of drapery! You have found it for yourself. You are certainly better."