ed shame, horror, and disgust that I
shall never forget. The next moment we were overhead in the pond, the
mare having dashed blindly in, caught her fore-feet in the bridle, and
rolled completely over. What a ducking I got to be sure! But it was
nothing to the scolding I had to endure afterwards from all the
females of the family, including my governess; only Uncle Horsingham
stuck up for me, and from that time till the day of his death vowed he
had "never known but one plucky fellow in the world, and that was his
little niece Kate."

No wonder I feel at home on Brilliant, who never did wrong in his
life, who will eat out of my hand, put his foot in my apron-pocket,
follow me about like a dog, and is, I am firmly persuaded, the very
best horse in England. He is quite thoroughbred, though he has never
been in training--and is as beautiful as he is good. Bright bay, with
such black legs, and such a silky mane and tail! I know lots of ladies
whose hair is coarser than Brilliant's. Fifteen hands three inches,
and Cousin John says well up to his weight--an honest fourteen stone.
With the smallest nose, and the leanest head, and the fullest dark
eye, and the widest, reddest nostril--his expression of countenance,
when a little blown, is the most beautiful I ever beheld; and not a
white mark about him except a tiny star in the very middle of his
forehead; I know it well, for I have kissed it often and often. The
picture over my chimney-piece does not half do him justice; but then,
to be sure, its _pendant_, painted by the same artist, and
representing my other horse, White Stockings, flatters that very plain
and excellent animal most unblushingly.

Of all delights in the world give me my morning canter up the park on
Brilliant. Away we go, understanding each other perfectly; and I am
quite sure that he enjoys as much as I do the bright sunshine and the
morning breeze and the gleaming Serpentine, with its solitary swan,
and its hungry ducks, and its amphibious dogs continually swimming for
the inciting stick, only rescued to produce fresh exertions; and the
rosy children taking their morning walk; and, above all, the _liberty_
of London before two o'clock in the day, when the real London begins.
I pat Brilliant's smooth, hard neck, and he shakes his head, and
strikes an imaginary butterfly with one black fore-leg, and I draw my
rein a thought tighter, and away we go, much to the admiration of that
good-looking man with mousta