Paul and His Dog Volume Ii Part 2

When Agathe was beginning to lose hope she saw the n.o.ble beast returning toward her, while his eyes seemed to say:

"Help is coming!"

And his master was soon by his side.

"Oh! monsieur--I beg you--my dear friend has fainted!" cried Agathe.

Paul had already taken a phial from his pocket, and he held it to Honorine's nose, saying to the girl:

"It's nothing; don't be alarmed; your friend will come to herself in a moment. What was the cause of this accident?"

"Fright; a cow came running straight toward my friend, who is terribly afraid of them; and but for your good dog, who ran up and drove the cow away, she would certainly have been wounded."

"See, she is coming to herself."

Honorine opened her eyes at that moment. The first person she saw was Agathe, who was leaning over her and gazing anxiously into her face. The young woman smiled as she muttered:

"I am an awful coward, am I not? But it isn't my fault; I was so frightened that----"

Honorine interrupted herself, for she had caught sight of Ami's master, who was standing a few steps away, regarding her attentively; he still held in his hand the little phial he had used to restore her to consciousness.

It was an easy matter for the two ladies to examine at their ease the individual of whom they had heard so much; and the result of their examination was not unfavorable to him; for although, when seen at a distance, his bushy beard gave him a somewhat forbidding aspect, on looking at him nearer at hand and at leisure, one saw that his features were handsome and distinguished, that his eyes were not always fierce, that his expression was neither threatening nor calculated to inspire alarm.

Agathe, divining her friend's amazement, made haste to say:

"This gentleman came to my a.s.sistance, for you didn't come to yourself--I did not know what to do--oh! I was very unhappy!"

"But that cow that was running at me--how did I escape being hurt?"

"Because this good old dog here ran up to defend you, threw himself in front of her and barked and jumped at her nose! Oh! it was magnificent!

And then, after putting the cow to flight, he ran to fetch his master to help me bring you to yourself.--Oh! how fine that was, Ami! Come, come here and let me embrace you!"

The girl put her arms about the dog's neck and patted and caressed him; he submitted with a very good grace, wagging his tail, and looking at his master from time to time, as if to inform him that he already knew the two ladies.

Honorine rose and bowed gracefully to the owner of the Tower, saying:

"Pray accept all my thanks, monsieur, and excuse me for having disturbed you in your walk."

"You owe me no thanks, madame; it is a duty to make oneself of use when one has the opportunity. You do not need this phial any more?"

"No, monsieur, I feel much better; but--this is very strange--I don't know whether it is the result of my fright, but I seem to have no legs, they give way under me; I feel as if I were going to fall."

"Well! that would be nice!" cried Agathe, doing her utmost to support her companion. "What are we to do if you can't walk? There are no cabs or omnibuses here, and we are quite a long way from home."

Ami's master, who, after offering his flask, had started to walk away, stopped when he discovered the embarra.s.sment of the two friends. He realized that they still needed him, but it was evident that he hesitated, that it was hard for him not to be guided by his ordinary instinct of aloofness. But Agathe, without speaking, looked at him with an almost imploring expression, and her eyes expressed her thought so fully that Paul walked back toward them, murmuring:

"If I can be of any further use to you--take my arm, madame; lean on it without fear, and I will help you to walk."

"Oh! you are too kind, monsieur! I am afraid of abusing----"

"No, no, take monsieur's arm, since he is kind enough to offer it,"

cried Agathe; "for if you had only mine to support you, we might both fall by the way; it is a long way from here to Ch.e.l.les."

Honorine decided to put her arm through the arm which their new acquaintance offered her. Agathe supported her friend on the other side, and they started.

"Where were you ladies going when the cow frightened you?"

"We will return to Ch.e.l.les, monsieur, if you please. When we came out this morning, we had no definite destination; we just set out for a walk.--That is to say," continued Agathe, "we came this way in order to see the estate of the Tower, of which we have heard a great deal since we came to Ch.e.l.les."

Honorine nudged her friend, to bid her keep silent, but Agathe paid no heed.

"We had just caught sight of it as we turned into that road; and as it seemed to us very pretty at a distance, we were going nearer in order to see it at closer quarters. We did not expect to make the acquaintance of its owner,--for monsieur is the owner of the Tower, I believe?"

"Yes, mademoiselle," replied Ami's master curtly, while Honorine nudged her friend again to make her keep silent; but she continued to pay no heed to the admonition.

"Oh! I recognized monsieur at once; we met him one day when we were looking for a certain field. It was then that your dog came to me and made advances. He doesn't do that to everybody, does he, monsieur?"

"a.s.suredly not, mademoiselle. He is not lavish of his friendship! And he has one great advantage over men, in that he never gives it except to those who deserve it."

"Then I ought to be proud of his friendship for me. Oh! you splendid dog! you good old dog! Look, Honorine; see how he walks around us, and how pleased he looks!"

It was a fact that Ami kept circling about the three persons who were walking along arm-in-arm. Sometimes he darted ahead, but he very soon returned, looked up in his master's face with a joyous yelp or two, then made the circuit of the little group anew, as if to make sure that they had not separated.

This pantomime on Ami's part did not escape his master, whose face, which wore an expression of annoyance when he first offered his arm to Honorine, began to be less severe.

Honorine, who still felt very weak, was forced to lean heavily on the arm of her escort, and she apologized therefor:

"I beg pardon, monsieur," she murmured; "I am tiring you, I am obliged to lean so heavily on you. But I am not very strong, and the slightest shock is enough to make me ill."

"Lean on me, madame; it does not tire me in the least."

"We have had bad luck for our first walk; do you often meet cows alone in the fields?"

"Very rarely, madame; and I am much surprised that that cow, which probably belongs to a good woman who lives near me, should have escaped and attacked you, for I know that she is not vicious; she must herself have been attacked or irritated by some one, to behave so."

"Oh! wait, monsieur," cried Agathe; "I remember now; while my dear friend was unconscious, and I was looking all about and calling for help, a little boy seven or eight years old appeared on a mound near by; he stared at me and laughed, and when I asked him to go for help, he laughed louder and sneered at me and made faces; then he ran away, jumping about and crying:

"'That's good! I like that!' "

"All is explained then, madame; that little boy probably played some cruel trick on the cow, which thereupon fled from the pasture where she was peacefully grazing."

"Oh! that was very naughty of the little fellow!"

"Mon Dieu!" said Honorine, "I wonder if it was the child whom they call at Ch.e.l.les the lost child?"

"Yes, madame, it was he undoubtedly. I saw him prowling about in the direction of Noisy-le-Grand. I am not surprised to find that he has been up to some mischief."

"Why, in that case, the boy must be naturally perverse," said Agathe; "is there no way of reforming him?"