The Lonely Bride by Fred M. White

Grace wondered what had happened, for her shabby companion was dreadfully excited, a series of hoarse cries came from his throat. He bent his head until it touched the ground, and appeared as if listening for the sound of somebody approaching. Then he rose again; and catching Grace by the arm hurried her across the field, till at length they had reached a cluster of old trees, some two hundred yards from the farm. Billy had apparently timed the thing to a nicety, for no sooner were they sheltered behind the trees than three men emerged out of the mist. They came very slowly and painfully along, for between them they bore some heavy object that lay upon a hurdle. Grace had seen this kind of thing before, especially in the hunting field, where it is necessary sometimes to take a hurdle or barn door and use it as an improvised ambulance. The girl could distinctly see the outlines of a body as it lay on the hurdle, though it was entirely covered with blankets or some heavy material of that kind. One foot of the injured man dangled over the side of the hurdle; even at this distance Grace could see that the foot was covered by a black sock, and that the boot had either been removed or had fallen off.

Very slowly and carefully the gruesome burden was brought to the door of the farmhouse, where one of the three men whistled, and the front door opened. Somebody stood in the hall holding a lamp high overhead, and Grace had no difficulty in making out the graceful figure of Fenton's daughter. Grace did not fail to notice either that the girl did not seem in the least surprised or agitated when she saw what the men were carrying. If the thing had been an accident then Bessie Fenton had been warned beforehand, for she stood there quite coolly with the lamp in her hand and made signs to the men as to where they were to take their unconscious burden. A light flashed up presently in one of the other rooms, so that Grace could give a pretty good guess as to the apartment in which the unfortunate man was now lying. There was a kind of balcony running round two sides of the house, so that it would have been possible with the aid of a ladder to look into that particular room, for the blinds there, like all the others, were torn and frayed. Billy made no signs of motion until the door of the farmhouse was closed and all was safe again. Then once more he took Grace by the hand and led her down to the edge of the farmyard so that they stood close by to where the strangers had turned with the body. The track was concealed entirely from Grace's eyes, but Billy could read it as if it were an open book to him. He pointed down to his left foot and kicked his broken boot off. Then he looked up sharply at Grace to see if she took his meaning. She nodded and smiled after a moment's hesitation; she perfectly understood that Billy was telling her that he had also noticed the shoeless foot hanging over the side of the improvised ambulance. It was quite evident also that Billy attached considerable importance to this point, for he put his nose to the ground in grotesque imitation of a retriever dog, and started to run uphill in the direction from which the men had come.