He looked at her reproachfully.
"Not expect me! But why?"
"I thought you might change your mind," she said.
He checked a quick response, and said instead:
"And now, where do we go first? You see I have got a bit heavier horse.
He's a present, also, from my father. What do you think of him?"
She eyed him gravely and critically.
"He's nice-looking," she said, "but I don't like him so well as the one you rode yesterday. Didn't I see him slip just now, coming up the hill?"
"Did he?" said Stafford. "I didn't notice. To tell you the truth, I was so delighted at seeing you that I don't think I should have noticed if he had tumbled on his nose."
"Oh, it wasn't much of a slip," she said, quickly, to cover her slight confusion at his candid confession. "Shall we go down to the sheep first?"
"Anywhere you like," he assented, brightly. "Remember, I'm your pupil."