"
The spy paused. Mohun shaded his eyes from the light, with his hands,
and said coolly:--
"Go on."
"Well, general--that was enough to astonish anybody--and what is more
astonishing still, I have never to this day discovered the meaning of
the woman's being there--for it was plain that she was a lady. She was
half-dead with cold, and had cried out in what seemed to be a sort of
delirium. When I raised her up, and wrung the wet out of her clothes,
she looked at me so strangely that I was frightened. I asked her how
she had come there, but she made no reply. Where should I take her? She
made no reply to that either. She seemed dumb--out of her wits--and, to
make a long story short, I half led and half carried her to the cart in
which I put her, making a sort of bed for her of some old bags.
"I set out on my way again, without having the least notion what I
should do with her--for she seemed a lady--and only with a sort of idea
that her friends might probably pay me for my trouble, some day.
"Well, I went on for a mile or two farther, when a new adventure
happened to me. That was stranger still--it was like a story-book; and
you will hardly believe me--but as I was going through a piece of
woods, following a by-road by which I cut off a mile or more, I heard
groans near the road, and once more stopped my cart.
Pages:
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249