rved that it was a good thing I
had not agreed to lend him to the Colonel.

'Yes,' I said, determined to improve the occasion, 'you might not have
found him as considerate as--well, as some people!'

'I meant it was a good thing for _you_!' he hinted darkly, and I did not
care to ask for an explanation. 'What did you mean,' he resumed, 'by
saying that I should not admire Wild Rose? Why, she is
charming--charming!'

'In that case,' I said, 'I don't mind riding with her mistress
occasionally--to oblige you.'

'You don't mind!' he said; 'you will _have_ to, my boy,--and every
afternoon!'

I suppressed a chuckle: after all, man _is_ the nobler animal. I could
manage a horse--in my own way. My little _ruse_ had succeeded: I should
have no more forced introductions to mystified strangers.

And now for some weeks my life passed in a happy dream. I only lived for
those hours in the Row, where Brutus turned as naturally to Wild Rose as
the sunflower to the sun, and Diana and I grew more intimate every day.
Happiness and security made me almost witty. I was merciless in my
raillery of the eccentric exhibitions of horsemanship which were to be
met with, and Diana was provoked by my comments to the sweetest silvery
laughter. As for Colonel Cockshott, whom I had once suspected of a
desire to be my rival, he had long become a 'negligible quantity;' and
if I delayed in asking Diana to trust me with her sweet self, it was
only because I found an epicurean pleasure in prolonging a suspense that
was so little uncertain.

And then, without warning, my riding was interrupted for a while. Brutus
was discovered, much to his annoyance, to have a saddle-raw, and was
even so unjust as to lay the blame on me, though, for my own part, I
thought it a mark of apt, though tardy, retribution. I was not disposed
to tempt Fortune upon any other mount, but I could not keep away from
the Row, nevertheless, and appeared there on foot. I saw Diana riding
with the Colonel, who seemed to think his opportunity had come at last;
but whenever she passed the railings on which I leaned, she would raise
her eyebrows and draw her mouth down into a little curve of resigned
boredom, which completely reassured me. Still, I was very glad when
Brutus was well again, and we were cantering down the Row once more,
both in the highest spirits.

'I never heard the horses here _whinny_ so much as they do this season,'
I said, by way of making conversation. 'Can you