The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy

Anne fearfully surveyed her position. The upper windows of the cottage / were of flimsiest lead-work, and to keep him out would be hopeless. She / felt that not a moment was to be lost in getting away. Running / downstairs she opened the door, and then it occurred to her terrified / understanding that there would be no chance of escaping him by flight / afoot across such an extensive down, since he might mount his horse and / easily ride after her. The animal still remained tethered at the corner / of the garden; if she could release him and frighten him away before / Festus returned, there would not be quite such odds against her. She / accordingly unhooked the horse by reaching over the bank, and then, / pulling off her muslin neckerchief, flapped it in his eyes to startle / him. But the gallant steed did not move or flinch; she tried again, and / he seemed rather pleased than otherwise. At this moment she heard a cry / from the cottage, and turning, beheld her adversary approaching round the / corner of the building.

'I thought I should tole out the mouse by that trick! ' cried Festus / exultingly. Instead of going for a ladder, he had simply hidden himself / at the back to tempt her down.

Poor Anne was now desperate. The bank on which she stood was level with / the horse's back, and the creature seemed quiet as a lamb. With a / determination of which she was capable in emergencies, she seized the / rein, flung herself upon the sheepskin, and held on by the mane. The / amazed charger lifted his head, sniffed, wrenched his ears hither and / thither, and started off at a frightful speed across the down.

'O, my heart and limbs! ' said Festus under his breath, as, thoroughly / alarmed, he gazed after her. 'She on Champion! She'll break her neck, / and I shall be tried for manslaughter, and disgrace will be brought upon / the name of Derriman!'

Champion continued to go at a stretch-gallop, but he did nothing worse. / Had he plunged or reared, Derriman's fears might have been verified, and / Anne have come with deadly force to the ground. But the course was good, / and in the horse's speed lay a comparative security. She was scarcely / shaken in her precarious half-horizontal position, though she was awed to / see the grass, loose stones, and other objects pass her eyes like strokes / whenever she opened them, which was only just for a second at intervals / of half a minute; and to feel how wildly the stirrups swung, and that / what struck her knee was the bucket of the carbine, and that it was a / pistol-holster which hurt her arm.

They quickly cleared the down, and Anne became conscious that the course / of the horse was homeward. As soon as the ground began to rise towards / the outer belt of upland which lay between her and the coast, Champion, / now panting and reeking with moisture, lessened his speed in sheer / weariness, and proceeded at a rapid jolting trot. Anne felt that she / could not hold on half so well; the gallop had been child's play compared / with this. They were in a lane, ascending to a ridge, and she made up / her mind for a fall. Over the ridge rose an animated spot, higher and / higher; it turned out to be the upper part of a man, and the man to be a / soldier. Such was Anne's attitude that she only got an occasional / glimpse of him; and, though she feared that he might be a Frenchman, she / feared the horse more than the enemy, as she had feared Festus more than / the horse. Anne had energy enough left to cry, 'Stop him; stop him! ' as / the soldier drew near.

He, astonished at the sight of a military horse with a bundle of drapery / across his back, had already placed himself in the middle of the lane, / and he now held out his arms till his figure assumed the form of a Latin / cross planted in the roadway. Champion drew near, swerved, and stood / still almost suddenly, a check sufficient to send Anne slipping down his / flank to the ground. The timely friend stepped forward and helped her to / her feet, when she saw that he was John Loveday.

'Are you hurt? ' he said hastily, having turned quite pale at seeing her / fall.

'O no; not a bit,' said Anne, gathering herself up with forced briskness, / to make light of the misadventure.

'But how did you get in such a place?'

'There, he's gone! ' she exclaimed, instead of replying, as Champion swept / round John Loveday and cantered off triumphantly in the direction of / Oxwell, a performance which she followed with her eyes.

'But how did you come upon his back, and whose horse is it?'

'I will tell you.'

'Well?'

'I -- cannot tell you.'

John looked steadily at her, saying nothing.

'How did you come here? ' she asked. 'Is it true that the French have not / landed at all?'

'Quite true; the alarm was groundless. I'll tell you all about it. You / look very tired. You had better sit down a few minutes. Let us sit on / this bank.'

He helped her to the slope indicated, and continued, still as if his / thoughts were more occupied with the mystery of her recent situation than / with what he was saying: 'We arrived at Budmouth Barracks this morning, / and are to lie there all the summer. I could not write to tell father we / were coming. It was not because of any rumour of the French, for we knew / nothing of that till we met the people on the road, and the colonel said / in a moment the news was false. Buonaparte is not even at Boulogne just / now. I was anxious to know how you had borne the fright, so I hastened / to Overcombe at once, as soon as I could get out of barracks.'

Anne, who had not been at all responsive to his discourse, now swayed / heavily against him, and looking quickly down he found that she had / silently fainted. To support her in his arms was of course the impulse / of a moment. There was no water to be had, and he could think of nothing / else but to hold her tenderly till she came round again. Certainly he / desired nothing more.