She had almost forgotten the dog by her side.  While sitting under the chestnut she had carelessly and loosely wound the leash round his neck in the semblance of a collar, and when she rose and came away she let the dog walk by her side without undoing the leash and taking proper charge of him.  She was thinking of far other things, indeed, when she was startled by some one calling to her, “Look out, miss, or you’ll have your dog shot!”

She turned and caught a glimpse of what sent a thrill of terror to her heart.  Bras had sneaked off from her side—­had trotted lightly over the breckans, and was now in full chase of a herd of deer which were flying down the slope on the other side of the plantation.  He rushed now at one, now at another:  the very number of chances presented to him proving the safety of the whole herd.  But as Sheila, with a swift flight that would have astonished most town-bred girls, followed the wild chase and came to the crest of the slope, she could see that the hound had at length singled out a particular deer—­a fine buck with handsome horns that was making straight for the foot of the valley.  The herd, that had been much scattered, were now drawing together again, though checking nothing of their speed; but this single buck had been driven from his companions, and was doing his utmost to escape from the fangs of the powerful animal behind him.

What could she do but run wildly and breathlessly on?  The dog was now far beyond the reach of her voice.  She had no whistle.  All sorts of fearful anticipations rushed in on her mind, the most prominent of all being the anger of her father if Bras were shot.  How could she go back to Borva with such a tale? and how could she live in London without this companion who had come with her from the far North?  Then what terrible things were connected with the killing of deer in a royal park!  She remembered vaguely what Mr. Ingram and her husband had been saying; and while these things were crowding in upon her, she felt her strength beginning to fail, while both the dog and the deer had disappeared altogether from sight.

Strange, too, that in the midst of her fatigue and fright, while she still managed to struggle on with a sharp pain at her heart and a sort of mist before her eyes, she had a vague consciousness that her husband would be deeply vexed, not by the conduct or the fate of Bras, but by her being the heroine of so mad an adventure.  She knew that he wished her to be serious and subdued and proper, like the ladies whom she met, while an evil destiny seemed to dog her footsteps and precipitate her into all sorts of erratic mishaps and “scenes.”  However, this adventure was likely soon to have an end.  She could go no farther.  Whatever had become of Bras, it was in vain for her to think of pursuing him.  When she at length reached a broad and smooth road leading through the pasture, she could only stand still and press her two hands over her heart, while her head seemed giddy, and she did not see two men who had been standing on the road close by until they came up and addressed her.