“I say--though--by Jove--here, Spoonly, stop,” suddenly observed the person who had before spoken, “I know this young lady; you must give way to me here.”
“You know her, Grahame!” cried the man he addressed as Spoonly; “well, that gives an interesting turn to the incident.”
“You know her, Grahame?” cried the third individual, advancing, “pray introduce us; we shall make a blissful termination to a dull barrack dinner.”
At the sound of his voice, Lotte’s companion seemed as though she would crawl upon the earth from the spot. It was the Honorable Lester Vane who spoke. Lotte was at a loss to divine why she betrayed so much abject fear, but she felt that it called upon her for renewed spirit and exertions.
She caught a firmer hold of her companion’s arm, and pushing her first assailant out of her path, hurried on, but he instantly pursued and caught her.
“You are a little vixenish fairy,” he said. “I like vixens. I have a thorough-bred filly, which is the sweetest creature to look at in the world of racers, but she has a temper, and I have named her Vixen. I like vixens. My little yacht, a perfect duck upon the water, will run in the teeth of a breeze like an arrow, as if out of spite; I have named her Vixen. I have”----
Finding that remonstrance, as well as resistance, were utterly unavailing, Lotte screamed for assistance loudly and vehemently.
Her cry was so sudden, so unexpected, so shrill and piercing, that it startled even those men against whose insults it was directed.
Almost instantly, from a hollow, the shadowy forms of two men appeared dark against the sky. Both gave a shout; and, in another moment, racing like deer, they reached the side of Lotte and her companion.
“What is all this?” cried one of the new arrivals.
Lotte uttered an almost hysterical shriek.
“Charley, Charley!” she cried, and disengaging herself from her companion, she threw herself upon the neck of her brother, for it was he.
But her embrace, passionate and loving as it was, lasted but an instant; in another moment she had again possessed herself of the arm of the young lady.
“We are safe now! oh, we are safe now!” she cried, in joyous tones.
“I should think so,” muttered Charley, with a slight swelling of the throat. Then he said--“These fellows have insulted you; have they not, Lotte?”