The Sensory Animals of Ston Hill

Alan Stone has always been riding fast, but on the way back, he let Grace sit on the horse and led the horse by himself, without showing any impatience.

He walked slowly, leaving Grace secure on the horse.There were several times when Grace secretly felt grateful in her heart, and then felt guilty towards Alan Stone, but he would remind himself immediately: Ward, the housekeeper, deserved what he deserved, and Alan Stone was ignorant of people, so he would be punished because of this. You deserve to be sad.

After crossing the last gentle slope, the changes in the front yard of the villa were clearly presented before their eyes.Alan Stone obviously knew that the villa had undergone many changes in advance, but he still sighed when he saw it with his own eyes: "Such a big garden!"

Grace felt flustered, just such a change surprised him so much.

He didn't let Alan Stone go any further, "I'll come down here, it's not good for others to see me sitting on a horse."

Alan Stone was very disdainful of his concerns, "What's wrong with that? I'll let you sit." This is the habit that Alan Stone has developed after 18 years of being doted on by this mountain villa. Once back here, he felt like he could do whatever he wanted.

"Let me walk back by myself." Grace insisted, very nervous, desperately trying to think of a reason.

Alan Stone actually gave in, "Okay." He raised one hand, allowing Grace to grab his hand and jump off the horse.

Grace sincerely thinks that when he came back this time, his temper was much better than before. No wonder people always worshiped soldiers. The army and the battlefield made bad men like Alan Stone better.

Grace tried to make a second request: "Can you wait here for a while, wait for me to go back first, and you can go back later?"

Alan Stone felt that he was a little puzzled, and frowned, "Why?"

"They all secretly admire you, and they will be angry with me when they see me walking with you." Grace almost wanted to applaud her cleverness.

Alan Stone was really convinced by him, and he laughed, "Then you have to go faster, I am in a hurry to go home and take a shower. After riding a horse for two days, it is so dirty."

Grace laughed too, and bent her knee at him.

This was the first time Alan Stone saw the maid perform such a standard curtsy in front of him, and even bent her neck obediently, allowing him to finally see clearly how those thin golden brown braids were. How to go from the top of the hair to the back of the head.

He saw that Grace left quickly, and he was very satisfied that the maid had listened to his words, afraid that he would wait here for a long time.The sapphire blue figure walked not far away quickly, and then simply trotted, and disappeared behind the small gentle slope in the blink of an eye.

Alan Stone looked at the top of the slope that blocked Grace's figure, and recalled that the two of them got along harmoniously just now, which was an unprecedented experience.

He recalled every detail after seeing this maid from the beginning, and came to a conclusion: he can be a little more kind to this maid in the future, in fact, her personality is not that bad.

Then he thought, Grace still looks better when she smiles, her teeth are healthy, white and neat, and the royal blue dress suits her well...

Grace rushed into the house carrying her skirt as if fleeing for her life, knocked twice on the door of Mr. Welsh's room, and then went straight in.

There is no one in the house.

Grace hurried downstairs, grabbed a servant he saw, and asked, "Where is Mr. Wales?"

"Two sharecroppers came to Mr. Wales and said they wanted to ask him to help see the boundary between the two farms—"

"Did Mr. Wales go to the village with them?!"

"Yes."

It’s over.

Grace was so panicked that she ran to the backyard first, trying to find a hiding place in places like the stables and sheepfolds.He even tried to get into the hay, but now that the new grass was starting to grow, the hay had been eaten up by the livestock and there was no way to hide him.

He thought, or hide in the woods!But the nearby forests had all been cut down, and he would have to travel a long way to find a place to hide, and it must be too late.

Grace knew that it wouldn't take long for Alan Stone to find out what he had done.He had already imagined that picture:

Alan Ston came to the gate and jumped off his horse. First, he found that there were many reliefs on the outer wall, and then there were two new-faced servants at the front door, and then there were new carpets, wallpapers, and furniture. and paintings on the wall.He finally saw the concierge he was familiar with and asked him, "Where's Uncle Ward?"

Then he knows everything.

That's too late!Can't find a suitable place to hide it!Grace suddenly remembered that when she was a child, there was a time when Alan Stone was very fond of playing hide-and-seek. No matter where he hid, he could always find him in the end.

He immediately realized that he couldn't go where no one was there!Alan Stone would definitely be able to find him in the end, but if he was found in a place where no one was around, Grace felt that she would be beaten to death.

He was thinking about being whipped by Alan Stone.

Grace covered her mouth and nose with her hands, and ordered herself to calm down: just go back to the house, you can't escape a severe beating, but with so many people stopping you, at least you won't be beaten to death.

But when Alan Ston whipped him angrily, there were many servants beside him, and none of them could stop him.

Grace found himself unusually timid at this moment, but there was nothing he could do—"A dog is always in awe of its first master." "A horse remembers the first whip." He thought of two peasant sayings, and at the same time I was angry again for thinking of these two sentences.

"I'm not a dog, nor a horse." Grace put down her hands bitterly, clenched into fists.Now he kind of wished that he was a dog with claws and fangs. If Alan Stone still dared to beat him like that, he would definitely tear a piece of flesh off him!

But his idea is pure bravado.It was the Earl of Arundel who finally got him the courage to go back.Grace thought viciously: If she was really beaten to death, the law may not be able to cure Alan Ston's crime, but the Earl will definitely not spare him!

He walked slowly back to the house, toward the front half of the house, where it was easiest for the servants to drive past.He rubbed his cheeks with his hands, trying to stop chattering his teeth, and then he saw Alan Stone rushing towards him.

Alan Stone's eyes were red, and he came straight at him with a ferocious face, like a roaring beast, holding a folded whip in his hand.

There was a vague whimper in Grace's throat, she froze and couldn't move. She watched Alan Ston rush to him, raised the hand holding the whip and waved it up, questioning him in a low voice. And the distorted voice at a lower volume: "What the hell have you done!"

Grace stared at the whip in his hand in horror, and there was a "buzzing" sound in her ears.He really wanted to yell, but it was as if he had swallowed a mouthful of cotton in his throat, and even his breathing was blocked.

Two more male servants that Alan Stone had never seen before came, and the four male servants stopped him together, speaking respectfully.

Alan Stone kicked a male servant on the leg, and the male servant was kicked to the ground by him, while the other three still stood in front of him.Alan Stone's whip unfolded, making a clear and resonant sound on the brightly colored Turkish carpet.

"Go away!" Alan Stone pushed them away, grabbed Grace's arm and dragged him into the nearest room, and locked the door behind him.

He raised his body by holding Grace's arm, and whispered viciously and tremblingly in his ear: "I don't believe the nonsense you told them! You actually killed him!...What happened that night? What? Why are you in Uncle Ward's room in the middle of the night? Did Arundell tell you to—"

Alan Stone stopped suddenly, and involuntarily let go of the hand that had been clamped on Grace's arm.

Grace's arm was free and held onto her head as the other arm had always been doing.Because Alan Stone didn't hold him anymore, he fell to the ground, shrank his head into his arms, and covered it tightly with his two arms.His body was curled up into a small ball, about to disappear into the hem of the royal blue skirt.

Alan Stone once dug up a hibernating hedgehog in a certain winter when he was a child, and the hedgehog was curled up in such a ball and shivered after being woken up by him.Later, his brother told him that if a hibernating animal cannot fall asleep again smoothly after being awakened, it will freeze to death unless it is put in a warm place.

He hurried back to that place with his brother, and the two brothers found the hedgehog's nest again after great efforts. Before he could be happy, he found that the hedgehog had been frozen.

Alan Ston saw the whip in his hand dully. He hadn't had time to hand it to the porter after he got off the horse... He always used to fold the whip in two and hold it in his right hand.

His gaze moved mechanically from the whip to the blob of royal blue on the floor, and then back to the whip.

With an unimaginable growl in his throat, he threw the whip to the ground and smashed his fist against the wall like an enemy.

There were already a lot of people outside the door, and the voices of big and small voices were all blocked into a vague buzz by the thick door panel, but the rapid knocking on the door didn't stop.

"Get up! Tell me clearly! Did Arundel ask you to do that?" Alan Stone grabbed Grace's arm with all his strength, and he wanted to see clearly the maid's face when she was lying.He no longer needs to lower his voice deliberately, because his voice is completely hoarse.

Grace was pulled half to her knees by him, looked up and saw that Alan Stone's hand was empty, and then he saw the riding whip lying on the ground.

Grace suddenly gained strength in her body, and rushed towards Alan Stone.