The lady was fair—but genuinely, not artistically fair, like Lady Wyndover—and she was so graceful and supple that she seemed part and parcel of the horse on which she rode. And there was a kind of proud, imperial air about her which struck Esmeralda, though she did not fully grasp it.
Esmeralda looked at her and the horse—a clean-cut thorough-bred—admiringly, and at the latter a little enviously. How soon would Lady Wyndover let her ride? What a time that Madame Cerise was over those stupid dresses! And what did it matter whether people saw her or not!
The pair rode slowly up to her, the gentleman bending slightly toward the lady, and talking in a low tone, she listening with eyes slightly downcast, and with a faint smile curving her proud lips. It was evident, even to Esmeralda, that they were absorbed in each other, and regardless of everything going on around them; and she was not surprised when both horses, ridden with a loose rein, started and reared at a dog which ran suddenly across the ride.
The gentleman had his horse in hand, and checked it in a moment, but the lady was not so prompt, and the high-spirited thorough-bred, taking advantage of its mistress’s confusion, sprung aside and reared again.
“Take care!” said the gentleman, quietly enough, but gravely. “You are very near the rail.”
She was so near that the horse’s hoofs seemed to be just above Esmeralda’s head, and she drew back a step, still watching intently.
She knew what the horse wanted—a sharp little cut between the ears, and a downward tug of the snaffle—and she waited for these to be administered. But the lady, though she looked so exquisite in her well-fitting habit, did not seem to know what was required, and the horse, master of the situation, took advantage, and rose again.
The gentleman was fully occupied with his own animal, the groom was a long way behind, and Esmeralda, who knew a horse and its tricks as thoroughly as it is possible to know them, saw that, unless the lady received some assistance, she would be thrown, and, not improbably, right across the rails.
She hesitated a moment, then she slipped under the rail, and taking a firm grip of the bridle, just above the bit, forced the animal on to its feet.