Page 350 - The snake's pass

338 — THE SNAKE S PASS.
in mine. As we came within sight of the house, we met
Miss Joyce — her face grey with anxiety. She rushed
towards us, and flung her arms round Norah, and the
two women rocked each other in their arms ; and then
we all kissed her—even Dick, to her surprise. His kiss
was the last, and it seemed to pull her together ; for she
perked up, and put her cap straight—a thing which she
had not done for the rest of us. Then she walked be-
side us, holding her brother's hand.
We all talked at once and told the story over and
over again of the deadly peril I had been in, and how
Norah had saved my life ; and here the brave girl's
fortitude gave way. She seemed to realize all at once
the terror and the danger of the long night, and sud-
denly her lips grew white, and she would have sunk
down to the ground only that I had seen her faint
coming and had caught her and held her tight. Her
dear head fell over on my shoulder, but her hands never
lost their grasp of my arm.
We carried her down toward the house as quickly as
we could ; but before we had got to the door she had re-
covered from her swoon, and her first look when her
eyes opened was for me, and the first word she said
was
" Arthur "
! Is he safe
And then I laid her in the old arm-chair by the
hearth-place, and took her cold hands in mine, and kissed
them and cried over them—which I hoped vainly that
no one saw.