It was while enjoying the humiliation of her enemy that Rebecca caught
sight of Jos, who made towards her directly he perceived her.
That altered, frightened, fat face, told his secret well enough. He
too wanted to fly, and was on the look-out for the means of escape. "HE
shall buy my horses," thought Rebecca, "and I'll ride the mare."
Jos walked up to his friend, and put the question for the hundredth
time during the past hour, "Did she know where horses were to be had?"
"What, YOU fly?" said Rebecca, with a laugh. "I thought you were the
champion of all the ladies, Mr. Sedley."
"I--I'm not a military man," gasped he.
"And Amelia?--Who is to protect that poor little sister of yours?"
asked Rebecca. "You surely would not desert her?"
"What good can I do her, suppose--suppose the enemy arrive?" Jos
answered. "They'll spare the women; but my man tells me that they have
taken an oath to give no quarter to the men--the dastardly cowards."
"Horrid!" cried Rebecca, enjoying his perplexity.
"Besides, I don't want to desert her," cried the brother. "She SHAN'T
be deserted. There is a seat for her in my carriage, and one for you,
dear Mrs. Crawley, if you will come; and if we can get horses--" sighed
he-"I have two to sell," the lady said. Jos could have flung himself into
her arms at the news. "Get the carriage, Isidor," he cried; "we've
found them--we have found them."
"My horses never were in harness," added the lady. "Bullfinch would kick
the carriage to pieces, if you put him in the traces."
"But he is quiet to ride?" asked the civilian.
"As quiet as a lamb, and as fast as a hare," answered Rebecca.
"Do you think he is up to my weight?" Jos said. He was already on his
back, in imagination, without ever so much as a thought for poor
Amelia. What person who loved a horse-speculation could resist such a
temptation?
In reply, Rebecca asked him to come into her room, whither he followed
her quite breathless to conclude the bargain. Jos seldom spent a
half-hour in his life which cost him so much money. Rebecca, measuring
the value of the goods which she had for sale by Jos's eagerness to
purchase, as well as by the scarcity of the article, put upon her
horses a price so prodigious as to make even the civilian draw back.
"She would sell both or neither," she said, resolutely. Rawdon had
ordered her not to part with them for a price less than that which she
specified. Lord Bareacres below would give her the same money--and with
all her love and regard for the Sedley family, her dear Mr. Joseph must
conceive that poor people must live--nobody, in a word, could be more
affectionate, but more firm about the matter of business.