“I am glad we are out of hearing of that dreadful old creature,” said Algernon, as they galloped along. “I hope she will not prove a true prophetess.”
“I don’t believe in wizards or witches,” answered Harry, “although sometimes by chance their predictions may appear to be fulfilled; and we should be foolish if we allowed the nonsense she talked to weigh on our spirits. I am very sure that the thread of our lives will not be cut shorter from anything she can do, and she certainly will not make me the less willing to go afloat, and fight as readily as I should have done had we not fallen in with her. She has evidently some dislike to the name of Castleton, and hearing us mention it, vented her feelings by trying to frighten us.”
“Poor woman, she is perfectly mad. I am curious to learn who she is,” observed Algernon. “Perhaps Groocock or some of the Hurlston people may know.”
Although the rain had moderated, the young men were nearly wet through before they had made their way across the down; and instead of stopping at Hurlston, as they had intended, they rode on to Texford.
In spite of the exercise he had taken, Algernon complained of the cold, and Harry observed that he shivered several times. As he, however, hurried to his room immediately on his arrival, and changed his wet things, his brother hoped he would not suffer.
Chapter Twenty Four.
Julia Castleton.
The party whom Miss Castleton had offered to escort round the—grounds consisted of several ladies and gentlemen, most of them young, with the exception of an old military officer, General Sampson, who, however, was as active and gallant as the youngest, and a matronly dame, Mrs Appleton, who went with the idea that a chaperone would be required on the occasion.