Page:Hornung - Irralies Bushranger.djvu/91

 the fence and found a horse there, tethered. The girl was puzzled.

"I wonder who has come?" said she.

"Don't wonder! Answer my question—please, Miss Villiers!"

"Say it again."

"If I had been the brute you thought me, would you—have stood by me even so?"

"No, indeed! I should think not. How can you ask?"

"I only wanted to know."

They squeezed through the wires, and had the yard to themselves. And here Irralie was still further mystified. The ball-room windows stood open to the floor; nobody was dancing, and yet the room was full. The music had ceased, but the sound of a high, drawling voice floated out into the yard.

"Who's that talking?" said Irralie. "It's a voice I don't know at all!"

She looked at her companion; and his expression was still puzzling her, when a sudden uproar burst upon them from the open