much worse mess than this by myself. Thank you for your help. We’d better unhitch this demmed team. I hope their knees aren’t broken.”
He half expected tears or hysteria, and was surprised to see her laughing. He was able to relax then himself. “It would save hauling them to auction. Sure you’re all right?”
She tried her neck with a jerk of her head to left and right, flexed her elbows and knees, and proclaimed herself unharmed. “Better dismount carefully or we’ll tip this whole rig into the ditch,” he cautioned. He hopped down and steadied it while she descended. Together they hurried to the team to calm the nags and unhitch them.
“We’re in for a walk,” he informed her. “This front axle is snapped clean through where it hit the road-edge. The prads seem unharmed, but very nervous. Better stand back, Babe.”
“Be careful, Clivedon,” she warned. “Silver bites.”
“Which one . . . ouch!” He leapt forward as the biter got her teeth into his forearm.
“Oh, did she hurt you? Horses bite so demmed hard.”
“It was nine-tenths sleeve she got ahold of.” Still, he was wincing with the one-tenth of the bite that was not sleeve, but his own flesh.
“What shall we do with my phaeton? Can we go away and leave it here?”
“We’ll have to walk on to the nearest coaching house and have them come back for it. It’s nearly off the road, and highly visible. You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“Only my pride,” she admitted.
“Let it be a lesson to you,” he said, as they began to trudge down the road, leading the team.
“You may be sure I’ll never ride with you again. Once bitten, twice shy.”
“Surely that should be my line. I hate a horse that bites. What I referred to, of course, was my wisdom in not letting you careen through town with this pair. We’ll see if we can palm them off on some strong-armed gent at Tatt’s, and get you something tamer. What possessed you to think you could handle them? You selected them yourself, you said. Didn’t you try them before buying?”
“I didn’t exactly choose this particular pair,” she said, glowering at them. “I said I wanted grays, and a friend chose them for me.”
“Gentz?”
“Yes.”
“You were seeing a good bit of him, I take it?”
“He is Count Bagstorff’s best friend, you see, and naturally he came to Fannie’s with the count all the time, so I was frequently in his company, but it was not a—a romance. More of a flirtation, you could call it. We neither of us meant anything. He was very gallant and let on he was madly in love with me, but he didn’t mean it.”
“How do you sort out the phonies?”
“It’s easy to tell when a man is shamming it. He thinks only of himself, and it comes out in little ways. He says all sorts of chivalrous nonsense, but doesn’t go an inch out of his way to really please you. Talk is cheap.”
“It seems to me you dragged Gentz several miles out of his way last week, hauling him up to Mecklenberg Square. How did you get a note to him, incidentally? I can’t believe Lady Graham’s servants would be so obliging.”
“I didn’t write him from there. I met him at Fannie’s—sent a note from there.”
He came to a dead halt in the middle of the road. “Am I to understand you met him all alone at Fannie’s house? How did you get there?”
“On the stage, and in a hired cab from the stop. But we were not all alone. There were a few servants there. She hasn’t completely closed up the house.”
“Have you no sense? Meeting the likes of Gentz off in a deserted house!”
“It wasn’t deserted.”
“It easily could have been. Servants don’t stick around twenty-four hours a day when they know their mistress is out of town. Don’t you realize the danger!”
“But they were there.”
“You didn’t know they would be.”
“I wouldn’t have met him inside if they hadn’t been. I would have waited for him outside, at the door.”
“And changed
He half expected tears or hysteria, and was surprised to see her laughing. He was able to relax then himself. “It would save hauling them to auction. Sure you’re all right?”
She tried her neck with a jerk of her head to left and right, flexed her elbows and knees, and proclaimed herself unharmed. “Better dismount carefully or we’ll tip this whole rig into the ditch,” he cautioned. He hopped down and steadied it while she descended. Together they hurried to the team to calm the nags and unhitch them.
“We’re in for a walk,” he informed her. “This front axle is snapped clean through where it hit the road-edge. The prads seem unharmed, but very nervous. Better stand back, Babe.”
“Be careful, Clivedon,” she warned. “Silver bites.”
“Which one . . . ouch!” He leapt forward as the biter got her teeth into his forearm.
“Oh, did she hurt you? Horses bite so demmed hard.”
“It was nine-tenths sleeve she got ahold of.” Still, he was wincing with the one-tenth of the bite that was not sleeve, but his own flesh.
“What shall we do with my phaeton? Can we go away and leave it here?”
“We’ll have to walk on to the nearest coaching house and have them come back for it. It’s nearly off the road, and highly visible. You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“Only my pride,” she admitted.
“Let it be a lesson to you,” he said, as they began to trudge down the road, leading the team.
“You may be sure I’ll never ride with you again. Once bitten, twice shy.”
“Surely that should be my line. I hate a horse that bites. What I referred to, of course, was my wisdom in not letting you careen through town with this pair. We’ll see if we can palm them off on some strong-armed gent at Tatt’s, and get you something tamer. What possessed you to think you could handle them? You selected them yourself, you said. Didn’t you try them before buying?”
“I didn’t exactly choose this particular pair,” she said, glowering at them. “I said I wanted grays, and a friend chose them for me.”
“Gentz?”
“Yes.”
“You were seeing a good bit of him, I take it?”
“He is Count Bagstorff’s best friend, you see, and naturally he came to Fannie’s with the count all the time, so I was frequently in his company, but it was not a—a romance. More of a flirtation, you could call it. We neither of us meant anything. He was very gallant and let on he was madly in love with me, but he didn’t mean it.”
“How do you sort out the phonies?”
“It’s easy to tell when a man is shamming it. He thinks only of himself, and it comes out in little ways. He says all sorts of chivalrous nonsense, but doesn’t go an inch out of his way to really please you. Talk is cheap.”
“It seems to me you dragged Gentz several miles out of his way last week, hauling him up to Mecklenberg Square. How did you get a note to him, incidentally? I can’t believe Lady Graham’s servants would be so obliging.”
“I didn’t write him from there. I met him at Fannie’s—sent a note from there.”
He came to a dead halt in the middle of the road. “Am I to understand you met him all alone at Fannie’s house? How did you get there?”
“On the stage, and in a hired cab from the stop. But we were not all alone. There were a few servants there. She hasn’t completely closed up the house.”
“Have you no sense? Meeting the likes of Gentz off in a deserted house!”
“It wasn’t deserted.”
“It easily could have been. Servants don’t stick around twenty-four hours a day when they know their mistress is out of town. Don’t you realize the danger!”
“But they were there.”
“You didn’t know they would be.”
“I wouldn’t have met him inside if they hadn’t been. I would have waited for him outside, at the door.”
“And changed
Similar Books
