For one breathless instant, Lawrence looked into Fanny's face, and neither spoke nor moved. Both were still very pale. Then the young girl slipped off, the reins in her hand.
"That was uncommonly well done," she said, with great calm. "You've saved my life."
She no longer looked at him while she spoke, but patted and stroked the thoroughbred, looking her over with a critical eye.
"Oh--that's all right," answered Lawrence. "Don't mention it!"
He laughed nervously, still panting from his violent exertion. Fanny herself was not out of breath, but the colour did not come back to her sunburnt cheeks at once, and her hand was hardly steady yet. She did not laugh with Lawrence, nor even smile, but she looked long into his eyes.
"I may not mention it, but I shan't forget it," she said slowly.
"It's one to me, isn't it?" asked Lawrence, who, in reality, was by far the cooler and more collected of the two.
"How do you mean?" enquired Fanny, knitting her brows half-angrily.
"One to me--in our game, you know," said the young fellow. "The game we agreed to play, yesterday."
"Yes--it's one to you. By the bye--you're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
She looked him over, as she had looked over her mare, with the same critical glance. His clothes were a little torn, here and there, being but light summer things, and his hat had disappeared, but it was tolerably clear that he was in no way injured.
"Oh, I'm all right," he answered cheerfully. "I should think you'd feel badly shaken, though," he added, with sudden anxiety.
"Not at all," said Fanny, determined to show no more emotion or excitement than he. "It was a case of sitting still--neck or nothing. It's nothing, as it happens."
At that moment Brinsley appeared, riding slowly through the trees, for fear of frightening the mare again.
Fanny looked round, saw him, and shook her head, with a smile. Brinsley trotted up and sprang from his horse.
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" he asked again.
"Thank God!" ejaculated Brinsley, with emphasis.
"You'd better thank Mr. Lawrence, too," observed Fanny, quietly. "He caught her going at a gallop, and hung on and was dragged. I don't remember ever seeing anything quite so plucky."
Brinsley looked coldly at his rival, and his beady eyes seemed nearer together than usual when he spoke to him.