lease.
Here, put the reins between your fingers--so; now a turn of the wrist
guides them. I'll hold your hand for a bit. You had better not let the
whip touch them--so. There you are. I'll show you how to handle the
ribbons before you are a fortnight older; that is if you will come out
every day with me."

"Would you take that trouble?" exclaimed Katherine.

"I can take a good deal of trouble if I like my work. Now hold them
steady, and keep your eye on them. When we come to the trees, on there,
turn to the left."

"So far there doesn't seem to be much difficulty; they seem to go all
right of their own accord," she said, after a few minutes.

"They are a capital pair; but there is nothing to disturb them."

For the rest of the way to Garston, De Burgh only spoke to give the
lesson he had undertaken, and Katherine found herself growing interested
and pleased. When they entered the gates, however, she asked him to take
the reins. She wanted to look about her, to remark the surroundings of
Errington's house.

It was a fine place, somewhat flat, perhaps, but beautiful with splendid
trees, and a small lake, through which ran the stream in another part of
which Cis and Charlie were going to fish. The house stood well, the
grounds were admirably laid out and perfectly kept; evidences of wealth
were on all sides.

"I suppose it costs a great deal of money to keep up a place like this,"
said Katherine, breaking a silence which had lasted some minutes: De
Burgh never troubled himself to speak unless he really had something to
say.

"I shouldn't care to live here on less than ten thousand a year," he
returned, glancing round.

"And has Mr. Errington all that money?"

"His father has a good deal more. He bought this place for him, I
believe. Old Errington is very wealthy, and on his last legs, from what
I hear."

"Ten thousand a year! What a quantity of money!"

"Hem! I think I could get through it without much trouble."

"Then you have always been rich?"

"Rich! I have been on the verge of bankruptcy all my life. I never knew
what it was to have enough money."

"But you seem to have gone everywhere and done everything."

"Yes, by discounting my future at a ruinous rate," he returned, with a
sort of reckless candor that amused his hearer. "You scarcely understand
me, I suppose."

"I think I do. I know how uncomfortable it is to want money."

"Indeed! Still, it's not so hard on women as on men."

"Why?"