"Jack, please keep up. It would not do to be tardy on the first day of my new employment." She could only see his nankeen britches poking out as, for some reason, he'd stuck his head in the lush, green hedge. Her daughter, Mary, ran to extricate her little brother. The child bent down and peered through the hole. She shot backwards screaming in horror. "Mama, there's a carriage coming. It will mow us down when it turns the corner." Emma dropped her precious carpetbag in the dirt, snatched up Jack and grabbed Mary's hand. She had spied a five barred gate no more than twenty yards ahead, they would be safe from harm there. The noise of the approaching carriage filled the lane. Two huge horses were approaching at a gallop, there was no time to reach the gate. She caught a glimpse of a dark visaged man holding the reins and his coachman clutching the box beside him in desperation. With a despairing cry she threw herself and her offspring into the hedge. The carriage thundered past and was gone around the next bend at a foolhardy pace.
