'Bitten?' I cried in dismay.
'Yes; but not much. Only I'm such a fool. I turned off when I
began taking off my boots. No, no--don't! Don't call any one. It
is nothing!'
He was springing up to stop me, but was forced to drop back, and I
made my way to the drawing-room, where my mother happened to be
alone. She was much alarmed, but a glass of wine restored Clarence;
and inspection showed that the thick trowser and winter stocking had
so protected him that little blood had been drawn, and there was
bruise rather than bite in the calf of the leg, where the brute had
caught him as he was getting over the stile as the rear-guard. It
was painful, though the faintness was chiefly from tension of nerve,
for he had kept behind all the way home, and no one had guessed at
the hurt. My mother doctored it tenderly, and he begged that
nothing should be said about it; he wanted no fuss about such a
trifle. My mother agreed, with the proud feeling of not enhancing
the obligations of the Fordyce family; but she absolutely kissed
Clarence's forehead as she bade him lie quiet till dinner-time.
We kept silence at table while the girls described the horrors of
the monster. 'A tawny creature, with a hideous black muzzle,' said
Emily. 'Like a bad dream,' said Miss Fordyce. The two fathers
expressed their intention of remonstrating with the farmer, and
Griff declared that it would be lucky if he did not shoot it.
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