And as if that were not bad enough, the ballad of Lenore recurred
to her:

"How swift the flood, the mead, the wood,
Aright, aleft are gone!
The bridges thunder as they pass,
But earthly sound is none.

"Tramp, tramp, across the land they speed,
Splash, splash, across the sea;
'Hurrah! the dead can ride apace,
Dost fear to ride with me?'"

By this time Carmel, alone among the magic mist and moonlight, had
reached a state of fear bordering on panic. She longed for anything
human, and would have embraced a cow if she had met one. Through the fog
in front of her suddenly loomed something dark, and the sound of horse's
hoofs rang on the road. A wild vision of Lenore's spectral bridegroom
presented itself to her overwrought imagination, and she shrieked in
genuine terror, and shrank trembling against the hedge. The rider of the
horse dismounted, and slipping his wrist through the bridle, came
towards her.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Are you hurt? Why, great Scott! It's
never Carmel!"

"Everard! Everard!" gasped Carmel, clinging desperately to his arm. "Oh!
Thank Heaven it's you! I'm lost!"

Everard comforted her for a while without asking any questions; then,
when she had recovered calmness, he naturally wished to know why his
pretty cousin was wandering in the country lanes by herself on a
winter's evening. Man-like, he blamed the school instead of Carmel.

"They ought to have taken better care of you!" he murmured. "Why didn't
the mistress hold a roll-call, and count you all?"

"It wasn't her fault. It was my own mistake!"

"Well, whoever's fault it was, the fact remains the same. You'd better
get on Rajah, and I'll take you back to Chilcombe."

"Oh! that would be lovely. I'm so tired."

Perched on Rajah's back, with Everard walking by her side, life seemed a
very different affair from what it had been five minutes before. Carmel
enjoyed the ride, and was almost sorry when they reached the great iron
gates of the Hall.

"Won't you come in and see Lilias and Dulcie?" she asked, as Everard
helped her to dismount at the door.

"I haven't time to-night. I must get home in a hurry. I've an
appointment with Mr. Bowden, and he'll be waiting for me."

"And I've kept you from it! Oh, I'm so sorry, Everard!"

"I'm not. Look here, if you're ever in any trouble again anywhere, you
come to me, and I'll take care of you. Don't forget that, will you?"

"I'l