Jasper was the man she wanted. He did not lose his head. He did not ask questions, how the accident had happened; he did not waste words in useless lamentation. He sent a maid at once to the stable to saddle the horse. A girl, in the country, can saddle and bridle as well as a boy.
‘I am off for the doctor,’ he said shortly, as soon as he had seen Mr. Jordan removed to the same downstairs room in which he had so recently lain himself.
‘Send for the lawyer,’ said Mr. Jordan, who had lain with his eyes shut.
‘The lawyer, papa!’
‘I must make my will. I might die, and then what would become of Eve?’
‘Ride on to Tavistock after you have summoned Mr. Coyshe,’ said Barbara.
When Jasper was gone, Eve, who had been fluttering about the door, came in, and threw herself sobbing on her knees by her father’s bed. He put out his hand, stroked her brow, and called her tender names.
She was in great distress, reproaching herself for having asked him to mow the grass for her; she charged herself with having wounded him.
‘No—no, Eve!’ said her father. ‘It was not your fault. Barbara would not let me alone. She interfered, and I lost my balance.’
‘I am so glad it was not I,’ sobbed Eve.