“So your Cousin Ned, finding the boy really quite a willing, capable little chap, is ready to do the best he can for him, hoping in time that he will prove an apt and reliable assistant. So, that’s settled.”
Joanne could restrain herself no longer, but flung herself into her grandfather’s arms. “And Chico! Oh, Grad, you will let me learn to ride him.”
“Why, yes. I thought we’d decided that,” he said patting her shoulder.
“But Gradda hasn’t said it was settled.”
“Nonsense! Gradda won’t object.”
“Oh, but she does, she does. She’s afraid Chico will run away with me and break my back or neck or something. She can’t get over the fact that he was born wild.”
Her grandfather laughed. “Then we shall have to calm her fears, and let her be convinced that whatever he may have been in his infancy he is now a very gentle little beast.”
“Oh, you blessed darling! I’m so glad you’ve retired and are going to stay at home always, for now I shall have you to come to my rescue in any emergency.” She threw her arms around her grandfather’s neck and kissed him ardently.
“Here, here,” he cried, “don’t eat me up. Do you mean you expect me to come to your rescue if Chico runs away with you?”
“Oh, no, no,” Joanne shook her curly head. “I never expect Chico to run away with me; I mean when it comes to tiffs with Gradda. She is a dear, of course, but she is always so anxious about me that she makes my life miserable. She wants me to take nice, orderly little walks around the block and never to cross the street alone for fear I’ll be run over. She is afraid I’ll get rough and suffragettish if I do the stunts the other girls do, and she’s always feeling my hands to see if they are cold and asking if I am in a draught and where is my appetite and did I sleep well last night and am I warm enough, hadn’t I better put on a sweater and do I think I should study so hard and—— Oh dear!” Joanne gave a long sigh.