Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 1.djvu/254

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242
THE TENANT

till I got a hold of the bridle,—but then, I must see him in the saddle.

"Here, you fellow—scoundrel—dog—give me your hand, and I'll help you to mount."

No; he turned from me in disgust. I attempted to take him by the arm. He shrank away as if there had been contamination in my touch.

"What, you won't? Well! you may sit there till doomsday, for what I care. But I suppose you don't want to lose all the blood in your body—I'll just condescend to bind that up for you."

"Let me alone, if you please."

"Humph! with all my heart. You may go to the d——l if you choose—and say I sent you."

But before I abandoned him to his fate, I flung his pony's bridle over a stake in the hedge, and threw him my handkerchief, as his own was now saturated with blood. He took it and cast it back to me, in abhorrence and