tions. Jean's revulsion of feeling was as swift as the
impulse which had preceded. Hardly had the pursuit clattered by than
she had wrenched herself from Robert's grasp, and with crimson cheeks
and haughtily tilted head, taken shelter by Miggles's side. Vanna,
still trembling, leant back against the hedge, gazing from side to side.
Robert Gloucester turned and walked down the lane, following the line
of pursuit. She caught a glimpse of his face as he went--radiant,
aglow! At the other man she would not look. Sympathy for his
discomfiture and pain withheld her gaze. She knew exactly how Piers
Rendall would look at this moment: his eyes brilliantly hard, his lips
a-twitch. For her own sake she would not look. She hated to see that
twitch.

Miggles leant against the hedge, and burst into unrestrained tears.
Blessed Miggles, who could always be trusted to come to the rescue! Her
sobs, her tears, her simple oblivion to the subject which was engrossing
the minds of her companions were the saving of the situation.

"Oh, my dear Jean--a bull! A runaway bull! Never in all my life--and
to think that to-day, of all others. This narrow lane! Oh dear! Oh
dear! Your poor dear father! If you had worn your red dress! It might
so easily have happened! Thank God! thank God! Your arm, dear, your
arm. I do so tremble! My poor old heart feels as if it would burst.
What a Providence! What a Providence!"

"What a wicked, wretched man to leave the gate unlocked! I'll ask
father to have him discharged at once," cried Jean hotly. "It's wicked,
criminal carelessness. We might all have been killed."

From the bottom of the hedge crawled the scratched and blackened figures
of the two schoolboys.

"I say!" gasped Jack, breathless. "What a lark! What a blooming lark!"

CHAPTER NINE.

TREASURE TROVE!

Miggles did not easily recover from her fright. The good body was in
precarious health: it was only the power of mind over body which kept
her going, and when the motive power was temporarily eclipsed it was
startling, even alarming, to behold the corresponding physical change.
The light faded from the eyes; the chin dropped; a dozen unsuspected
lines furrowed the face; beaming middle-age was transformed in a moment
into suffering age.

"I think, my dears," she announced apologetically, "so sorry to spoil
your walk, but I _think_ I'll go home! Bulls, you know, bulls! They
_are_ disconcerting. When you've liv