ink that my duty is never to be
away from my home, so that I can be called at any moment to do what
duty may arise, and which, if I should delay or omit, would be wrong."

"It is a strict view," said Hardy, "but it is the right one. I cannot
say it is general in England."

CHAPTER VII.

"If the prayer be good, the commoner the better.
Prayer in the Church's words,
As well as sense, of all prayers bears the bell."
_The Complete Angler._

The next day after the late breakfast at the parsonage, John Hardy
rode over to the Jensen's on Buffalo, and Garth followed on one of the
Danish horses, and was received with much warmth. Herr Jensen walked
round and round Buffalo, for he loved a horse, and admired the length
of his step as Buffalo walked. He had heard the story of his jumping
the wall at Vandstrup Praestegaard, and his desire to see him perform
in that capacity was so great, that Hardy put him through a gallop and
over a few fences, and Herr Jensen approved loudly. Fru Jensen was
present and her two daughters, Mathilde and Maria Jensen.

Hardy's quiet manner when he dismounted and made his respects to the
ladies, as if he had just trotted his horse up the avenue, struck
them, and they forgave him on the spot for leaving so early the night
before. Hardy went into the old Danish Herregaard (country house), and
was received with the usual Danish hospitality. The ladies talked
incessantly of the proceedings of the night before, and Hardy had to
bear the result of Froken Jaeger's severe cross-examination to the
fullest particular. She had told all Hardy's answers to her questions,
and they were possessed with Hardy's position in England, so far as he
had chosen to answer Froken Jaeger, and the ladies were ready to
pursue the inquiry further; but, fortunately for Hardy, Herr Jensen
was anxious to show him his farm, and particularly his horses. Hardy
at once assented, and Herr Jensen took him to see his brood mares and
foals, with a few young horses not yet sold, which Herr Jensen was
holding for a higher price than the people he sold to at Hamburgh
would pay him. Garth accompanied them.

"I have sold horses often to England," said Jensen; "but they will pay
a price upon each particular horse. Some they will pay L40 for, some
they will pay L18 for; and when the horses arrive at Hull, they will
say there is some fault or defect in the higher paid-for horses, and
the consequence is that I prefer