"Like him?" responded Dick, with the superlative of approval; "never rode a horse to equal him, and the other is as good. And"—in an undertone—"the sidesaddle has come."
But Nell, whose ears were sharp, heard him.
"Who is the sidesaddle for?" she asked, innocently and ungrammatically.
Vernon took the bull by the horns.
"For you, if you will deign to use it, Miss Nell," he said.
It was the first time he had addressed her as "Miss Nell," but she did not notice it.
"For me?" she exclaimed.
They were opposite Sandy's stables, and Dick dropped off his horse and brought out the other.
"Look at her, Nell!" he exclaimed, with bated breath. "Perfect, isn't she?"
Nell looked at her with a flush that came and went.