"Father, is he dead?" she asked, in a broken, horror-stricken voice.
The old gentleman was too much concerned to reply. Had this been a
narrower nature he might have been aggrieved at Cornelia's ignoring his
own late deadly peril in her anxiety for the young man. But he would
have done her wrong; her heart had stood still for him till she had seen
his safety assured; then it had gone out in gratitude, admiration, and
tender solicitude, for the man who had shown unfaltering and desperate
determination in saving him.
Having backed Dolly--who was standing, quite subdued, with hanging head
and heaving sides--away from the body, Professor Valeyon stooped down to
make an examination. He had begun life as a surgeon, and was well
skilled in the science. He cautiously unbuttoned the closely-fitting
coat.
"Stop! let me alone! let me alone!--will you?" growled Bressant,
speaking thickly and disjointedly, like one just recovering from a
fainting-fit, but with unmistakable signs of ill-temper.
"Thank God! you're alive, my boy," said the professor, too much relieved
to notice the tone. "Cornelia, my dear, run to the house, and get
Michael and the wheelbarrow.--Any bones broken, do you think?" he
continued, carefully pursuing his investigations the while.
"No, nothing! can't you let me lie here alone?" was the sulky reply.
But, as the other's hand happened to press lightly in the vicinity of
the chest, Bressant drew a quick, gasping breath, and could not control
a spasm of pain.
"Don't touch there--it's where the shaft struck me," said he, in a voice
that was no more than a whisper, but as sullen as if he had been the
victim of some unpardonable wrong. There was a trace of mortification in
it, too, such as might have been caused by detection in a disgraceful
act.
"Never saw any thing like this in him, before," said the professor to
himself. "Badly injured, too, I'm afraid: collar-bone broken, at any
rate. Ah! there's the wheelbarrow, and Neelie with some cushions. Now,
Michael, take hold of him carefully, and help me lift him in." But
Bressant, as he felt the first touch, opened wide his half-closed eyes,
and looked around savagely.
"Keep your hands off me," whispered he, in a menacing tone; "if I must
go into the house, I'll walk in myself."
"Nonsense! you're crazy! 'walk in?'" cried the professor.
Bressant said no more, but, with an effort that forced a groan, he
rolled over on his face, and thence raised himself to a kneeling
posture. He paused so a moment, and then, by another spasmodic
movement, succeeded in gaining his feet. He had been twice kicked in his
right leg, and the pain was wellnigh insupportable. He stood balancing
himself unsteadily.
"Let me help you," said Cornelia, coming to his side. But he took no
notice of her, not even turning his eyes upon her. He staggered blindly
along the road to the gate; it gave way before him with a reluctant
rattle, and closed with an ill-tempered clap as he passed through.
Swaying from side to side of the marble walk, he at last reached the
porch. In trying to ascend the steps, he stumbled, and pitched forward
in a heavy fall.