She did not
pause a moment but hurried across the lawn to join him. He opened
the gate and she passed through. "I'm not going to be done by a
dragon," she said as she took her place alongside of him.
"Upon my, word, Miss Trefoil, I don't think I ever knew a human
being with so much pluck as you have got"
"Girls have to have pluck if they don't mean to be sat upon;--a
great deal more than men. The idea of telling me that I was to go
to church as though I were twelve years old!"
"What would she say if she knew that you were walking here with
me?"
"I don't care what she'd say. I dare say she walked with somebody
once;--only I should think the somebody must have found it very
dull."
"Does she know that you're to hunt to-morrow?"
"I haven't told her and don't mean. I shall just come down in my
habit and hat and say nothing about it. At what time must we
start?"
"The carriages are ordered for half-past nine. But I'm afraid you
haven't clearly before your eyes all the difficulties which are
incidental to hunting."
"What do you mean?"
"It looks as like a black frost as anything I ever saw in my life."
"But we should go?"
"The horses won't be there if there is a really hard frost. Nobody
would stir. It will be the first question I shall ask the man when
he comes to me, and if there have been seven or eight degrees of
frost I shan't get up.
Pages:
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383