'
'Nobody is hurt but Ada,' said Maurice, 'but her face is a good deal
burnt.'
'Eh? then she won't be fit for the 30th, poor child! tell me how it
was, make haste. I heard it from Mr. Burnet as I came down to
dinner. We have a dozen people at dinner. I told him not to mention
it to my mother, and rode off to hear the truth. Make haste, half
the people were come when I set off.'
The horse's caperings so discomposed Maurice that he could scarcely
collect his wits enough to answer: 'Some signal rocket on a new
principle--detonating powder, composed of oxymuriate--Oh!
Rotherwood, take care!'
'Speak sense, and go on.'
'Then Phyllis came in, banged the door, and the vibration caused the
explosion,' said Maurice, scared into finishing promptly.
'Eh! banging the door? You had better not tell that story at
school.'
'But, Rotherwood, the deton--Oh! that horse--you will be off!'
'Not half so dangerous as patent rockets. Is Emily satisfied with
such stuff?'
'Don't you know that fulminating silver--'
'What does Robert Devereux say?'
'Really, Rotherwood, I could show you--'
'Show me? No; if rockets are so perilous I shall have nothing to do
with them.
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