“Have you ever ridden in a steeplechase?” Somerfield asked him.
“Never in my life,” the Prince declared. “Frankly, I do not know what it is.”
“There are jumps, for one thing,” Somerfield continued,—“pretty stiff affairs, too.”
“If Lady Grace’s mare is a hunter,” the Prince remarked, “she can probably jump them.”
“The question is whether—” Somerfield began, and stopped short.
The Prince looked up.
“Yes?” he asked.
Somerfield hesitated to complete his sentence, and the Duke once more intervened.
“What Somerfield was thinking, my dear Prince,” he said, “was that a steeplechase course, as they ride in this country, needs some knowing. You have never been on my daughter’s mare before.”
The Prince smiled.