, and no fear of Lady Maulevrier's critical
ear or Lesbia's superior smile. The Fraeulein was pleased to hear her
pupil ramble on with her favourite bits from Raff, and Hensel, and
Schubert, and Mendelssohn, and Mozart, and was very well content to let
her play just what she liked, and to escape the trouble of training her
to that exquisite perfection into which Lady Lesbia had been drilled.
Lesbia was not a genius, and the training process had been quite as hard
for the governess as for the pupil.

Thus the slow days wore on till the first week in March, and on one
bleak bitter afternoon, when Fraeulein Mueller stuck to the oven even a
little closer than usual, Mary felt she must go out, in the face of the
east wind, which was tossing the leafless branches in the valley below
until the trees looked like an angry crowd, hurling its arms in the air,
fighting, struggling, writhing. She must leave that dreary house for a
little while, were it even to be lashed and bruised and broken by that
fierce wind. So she told Fraeulein that she really must have her
constitutional; and after a feeble remonstrance Fraeulein let her go, and
subsided luxuriously into the pillowed depth of her arm-chair.

There had been a hard frost, and all the mountain ways were perilous, so
Mary set out upon a steady tramp along the road leading towards the
Langdales. The wind seemed to assail her from every side, but she had
accustomed herself to defy the elements, and she only hugged her
sealskin jacket closer to her, and quickened her pace, chirruping and
whistling to Ahab and Ariadne, the two fox-terriers which she had
selected for the privilege of a walk.

The terriers raced along the road, and Mary, seeing that she had the
road all to herself, raced after them. A light snow-shower, large
feathery flakes flying wide apart, fell from the steel-grey sky; but
Mary minded the snow no more than she minded the wind. She raced on, the
terriers scampering, rushing, flying before her, until, just where the
road took a curve, she almost ran into a horse, which was stepping along
at a tremendous pace, with a light, high dogcart behind him.

'Hi!' cried the driver, 'where are you coming, young woman? Have you
never seen a horse till to-day?'

Some one beside the driver leapt out, and ran to see if Mary was hurt.
The horse had swerved to one side, reared a little, and then spun on for
a few yards, leaving her standing in the middle of the road.

'Why, it