“But will Miss Duncan be able to walk back five or six miles?” inquired Mr. Huyton.
“Hilary, dear, you can not do that, I am sure,” said Maurice, anxiously.
“Necessity knows no law,” was Hilary’s cheerful reply. “I am not so very tired; besides, I can ride a little to rest myself, you know; neither Sybil nor Gwyneth have walked at all!”
Both girls, who had been gazing most attentively at the stranger, now cried out that Hilary should ride when she liked; all the way, if she liked.
“Then your shortest way home,” replied Mr. Huyton, “is through my park, and out into the road which skirts the side of it; that will lead you direct to Hurstdene.”
The children looked delighted, and whispered, audibly enough, how they should like to go through the “the Ferns;” they had never been inside the gates.
This point was soon settled, and he led them along a green alley of the forest, until they came to the park palings. The fence was of the wildest description. Ivy, clematis, and woodbine, mixed in the utmost profusion with bryony, bind-weed, and other climbing plants, overshadowed by gigantic ferns and gorse, which might almost be classed among trees. Over these, huge forest trees swung their ancient branches, and made a sort of twilight of the spot. The children wondered what would come next; but Mr. Huyton, drawing a key from his pocket, and pushing aside a tangled screen of green boughs, soon threw open a little door, which at first had hardly been perceptible, and the party found themselves within the park.
A narrow path, which seemed but rarely trodden, leading between thickets of tall fern, picturesque old thorns, and ancient hollies, opened before them. Eager and amused, the girls pressed their ponies along at a quick pace; Hilary still leaned on her brother’s arm, while Mr. Huyton walked by her side, and assisted
Maurice to hold back the encroaching brambles, or overhanging prickly branches, which might have impeded her progress.
A turn in the path brought them suddenly in sight of the house, and then the owner, turning to Hilary, said,