One of the horses shied, and both were off at a pace which required Harvey's best handling. For a while neither spoke. He glanced round presently to say, "Not frightened?"
"O no; not with you here."
"Some women think it necessary to scream on these little occasions. Of course, if you wished to ensure the horses running away, that is as good a mode as any."
"But I don't wish it," Julia answered, laughing. "And they never do run away."
"Well, not seriously," Harvey answered, with one or two recollections in his mind which were not known to Julia. "I am taking you this way, that you may see a pretty view from the common."
"Not the common near us?"
"Seven miles or more off. You have not been to it yet. There is a steep hill to climb, and then a flat tableland extending any distance. John will have an opportunity to stretch his legs again."
"Yes, sir!" responded John smartly from behind.
The hill was reached in no long time, being about a mile distant from the captain's little house, as Harvey informed Julia. Steep it was unquestionably, but the horses went up in brisk style, apparently no whit fatigued. John, who had dropped down for a walk as a matter of course, was left in the rear.
"After all, he might as well have kept his seat. We have to wait for him now," Harvey said, when they gained the top.