They talked about everything in the world except what was most on their minds. Their soft tones and expressive eyes supplied that little deficiency.
One day he caught her riding on her little Arab. The groom fell behind directly. After they had ridden some distance in silence, Walter broke out:
"How beautifully you ride!"
"Me!" cried Mary. "Why, I never had a lesson in my life."
"That accounts for it. Let a lady alone, and she does everything more gracefully than a man; but let some cad undertake to teach her, she distrusts herself and imitates the snob. If you could only see the women in Hyde Park who have been taught to ride, and compare them with yourself!"
"I should learn humility."
"No; it would make you vain, if anything could."
"You seem inclined to do me that good turn. Come, pray, what do these poor ladies do to offend you so?"
"I'll tell you. They square their shoulders vulgarly; they hold the reins in their hands as if they were driving, and they draw the reins to their waists in a coarse, absurd way. They tighten both these reins equally, and saw the poor devil's mouth with the curb and the snaffle at one time. Now you know, Mary, the snaffle is a mild bit, and the curb is a sharp one; so where is the sense of pulling away at the snaffle when you are tugging at the curb? Why, it is like the fellow that made two holes at the bottom of the door—a big one for the cat to come through and a little one for the kitten. But the worst of all is they show the caddess so plainly."
"Caddess! What is that; goddess you mean, I suppose?"