CHAPTER FIVE.
WAITING AND WATCHING.
Following with alacrity, Sabrina was soon again by the side of hersister. But just then no further speech passed between them. Not thatboth were silent. On the crest of the ridge, treeless and overgrownwith gorse, Hector had run foul of a donkey, and after a short chase washolding it at bay. With his barks were mingled cries of encouragementfrom his mistress, laughter, and patting of her hands, as she houndedhim on. Possibly had the Forester, Neddy's owner, come up at thatmoment, he might not have shown the politeness for which Sabrina hadgiven his fellows credit. But the young lady meant no harm; nor muchthe mastiff. If he had, there was little danger of his doing it; thecreature whose ancestry came from Mesopotamia being able to take care ofitself. The demonstrations of the dog--an overfed, good-natured brute--looked as if being made either for his own amusement or that of hisyoung mistress; while the donkey, on the defence, with teeth, and heels,seemed equally to enjoy the fun.
The elder sister, standing apart, had neither eyes nor ears for this bitof hoydenish play. If a thought, it was the fear of giving offence tothe ass's owner, should that individual unluckily come along. As no onecame, however, she left Vaga to her vagaries, and stood intently gazingupon the landscape spread before her.
A far and varied view she commanded from that elevated spot. First, adeep, wide valley below, trending away to the right, with a tiny streamtrickling adown it, and a straggling village, the houses standing apartalong its banks--Drybrook. But not as the Drybrook of to-day, showingtall brick chimneys--the monoliths of our own modern time--with theirplumes of grey black smoke; cinder-strewn roads running from one to theother, and patches of bare pasture between. Then it was embowered,almost buried, in trees; here and there only a spot of whitewashed wallsor a quaint lead window, seen through the thick foliage. Beyond villageand stream rose another ridge, with a gradual ascent up to the"Wilderness"; and still farther off--so far as to be just visible--stretched a wide expanse of low-lying champaign country, the valley ofthe Severn, once the sound of a sea. As the young girl gazed upon it,the sinking sun behind her back, with the Forest highlands beginning tofling the shadows of twilight across the Severn's plain, and the whitemist that overhung it, she might well have imagined the waters of oceanonce more o'erflowing their ancient bed.
She neither imagined this nor thought of it; in fact saw not the fog,nor gave so much as a second glance to that valley she had professedherself so desirous of viewing. Instead, her eyes were fixedly bentupon the face of the acclivity opposite--more particularly on a ribandof road that went winding up through woods from Drybrook to the"Wilderness." And still with the same look of earnest interrogation.What could it mean?
Vaga coming up, after having finished her affair with the donkey,observed the look, and it called forth a fresh display of thatpersiflage she so delighted in. Hitherto Sabrina had the best of it.Her turn now, and she took advantage of it, saying,--
"Why, sister Sab, you seem to have forgotten all about what you camehere for! You're not looking at the Severn at all! Your glances aredirected too low for it. And as to the glorious sunset you spoke of,that's going on behind you! Something on the road over yonder seems tobe the attraction; though I can see nothing but the road itself."
"Nor I," said Sabrina, a little confused, with just the slightest spotof red again showing on her cheeks. Enough, though, to catch the eye ofher suspicious sister, who archly observed,--
"Rather strange, your gazing so earnestly at it, then?"
"Well, yes; I suppose it is."
"But not if you're expecting to see some one upon it."
Sabrina started, the red on her cheeks becoming more pronounced; but shesaid nothing, since now her secret was discovered, or on the eve ofdiscovery. Vaga's next words left her no longer in doubt.
"Who is he, sister?" she asked with a sly look, and a laugh.
"Who is who?"
"He you expect to see come riding down yonder road. I take it he'll beon horseback?"
"Vaga! you're a very inquisitive creature."
"Have I not some right, after being dragged all the way hither, when Iwanted to go home? If you called me a _hungry_ creature 'twould benearer the truth. Jesting apart, I am that--quite famished; so weak Imust seek support from a tree."
And with a mock stagger, she brought up against the trunk of a hawthornthat grew near.
Sabrina could not resist laughing too, though still keeping her eyes onthe uphill road. It seemed as though she could not take her eyes offit. But the other quickly recovering strength, and more naturally thanshe had affected feebleness, once more returned to the attack, saying,--
"Sister mine; it's no use you're trying to hoodwink me. You forget thatby accident I saw a letter that lately came to Hollymead--at least itssuperscription. Equally oblivious you appear to be, that thehandwriting of a certain gentleman is quite familiar to me, having seenmany other letters from the same to father. So, putting that and thattogether, I've not the slightest doubt that the one of last week,addressed to your sweet self, informed you that on a certain day, hour,afternoon, Sir Richard Walwyn would enter the Forest of Dean by theDrybrook Road on his way to--"
"Vaga, you're a very demon!"
"Which means I've read your secret aright. So you may as well makeconfession of it."
"I won't; and just to punish you for prying. Curiosity ungratified willbe to you very torture, as I know."
"Oh, well! keep it close; it don't signify a bit. One has little careto be told what one knows without telling. If Sir Richard should cometo Hollymead, why then six and six make a dozen, don't they?"
Sabrina turned a half-reproachful look on her tormentor, but withoutmaking reply.
"You needn't answer," the other went on. "_My_ arithmetic's right, andthe problem's solved, or will be, by the gentleman spoken of making hisappearance any time this day, or--Why, bless me! Yonder he is now, I dobelieve."
The exclamatory phrase had reference to a horseman seen riding down theroad so narrowly watched; though the speaker was not the first to seehim. He had been already sighted by Sabrina, and it was the flash ofexcitement in her eyes that guided those of her sister.
The horseman had not all the road to himself; another coming on behind,but at such short distance as to tell of companionship--that of masterand servant. He ahead was undoubtedly a gentleman, as evinced by thebright colour of his dress, with its silken gloss under the sunlight,and the glitter of arms and accoutrements; while the moresoberly-attired rider in the rear was evidently a groom or body servant.
As the girls stood regarding, the look in the eyes of the elder, atfirst satisfied and joyous, began gradually to change. The distance wastoo great for the identification of either face or figure. All thatcould be distinguished was that they were men on horseback, with thegeneral hue of their habiliments, and the sparkle of arms and ornaments.
It was just these--their brightness and splendour--as affected theforemost of the two, which had brought the change over Sabrina'scountenance. Sir Richard Walwyn was not wont to dress gaudily, butrather the reverse. Still, time had elapsed since she last saw him. Hehad been abroad, in the Low Countries, and with Gustavus of Sweden,battling for the good cause. The foreign fashions may have changed hisideas about dress and its adornments. But little cared she for that solong as his heart was unchanged; and that it was so she knew by theletter which had betrayed her own heart's secret to her sister.
Almost simultaneously upon Vaga's features appeared a change too--almostexpressing doubt. It became certainty on the instant after, stillanother replacing it, as she again exclaimed, contradicting herself--
"Bless me, no! That's Reginald Trevor."