e of them both an
instant example!"

I ought to have said that although these performances were never
actually witnessed by Enriquez's sister--for reasons which he and I
thought sufficient--the dear girl displayed the greatest interest in
them and, perhaps aided by our mutually complimentary accounts of each
other, looked upon us both as invincible heroes. It is possible also
that she over-estimated our success, for she suddenly demanded that I
should _ride_ Chu Chu to her house, that she might see her. It was
not far; by going through a back lane I could avoid the trees which
exercised such a fatal fascination for Chu Chu. There was a pleading,
childlike entreaty in Consuelo's voice that I could not resist, with a
slight flash from her lustrous dark eyes that I did not care to
encourage. So I resolved to try it at all hazards.

My equipment for the performance was modeled after Enriquez's previous
costume, with the addition of a few fripperies of silver and stamped
leather out of compliment to Consuelo, and even with a faint hope that
it might appease Chu Chu. _She_ certainly looked beautiful in her
glittering accoutrements, set off by her jet-black shining coat. With
an air of demure abstraction she permitted me to mount her, and even
for a hundred yards or so indulged in a mincing maidenly amble that was
not without a touch of coquetry. Encouraged by this, I addressed a few
terms of endearment to her, and in the exuberance of my youthful
enthusiasm I even confided to her my love for Consuelo and begged her
to be "good" and not disgrace herself and me before my Dulcinea.[154-1]
In my foolish trustfulness I was rash enough to add a caress and to pat
her soft neck. She stopped instantly with a hysteric shudder. I knew
what was passing through her mind: she had suddenly become aware of my
baleful existence.

The saddle and bridle Chu Chu was becoming accustomed to, but who was
this living, breathing object that had actually touched her? Presently
her oblique vision was attracted by the fluttering movement of a fallen
oak leaf in the road before her. She had probably seen many oak leaves
many times before; her ancestors had no doubt been familiar with them
on the trackless hills and in field and paddock, but this did not alter
her profound conviction that I and the leaf were identical, that our
baleful touch was something indissolubly connected. She reared before
that innocent leaf, she revolved round it, and then fled