‘I was overcome with joy,’ I apologised. ‘Oh, Rip! how often have I longed for such an hour as this!’
‘Dear old Blossom,’ said Rip affectionately, ‘it is just like you to think of your old friends. No one, looking at your quiet ways, would imagine that you had half the emotion in you; but your sort of emotion is like still water—it runs deep.’
‘But where have you been—and what sort of masters have you had?’ I asked.
‘I have had only one master since I knew you,’ replied Rip. ‘Squire Tracey bought me of Mr. Bayne, and I am with Squire Tracey still. I have brought his two eldest sons here to-day.’
‘From Upton?’ I exclaimed.
‘Stupid old Blossom,’ said Rip, with a good-natured smile in his eyes. ‘No, Upton is a deal too far away; we came from town this morning. We always spend the fashionable months in the great metropolis—West-end of course. I have never cast eyes upon the east side of Temple Bar.’
‘And they treat you well, Rip?’
THE RACE-COURSE.
‘Nobly—from the squire to the groom,’ replied Rip. ‘As for the groom, he is so kind to me that I positively love the fellow. He carries a whip as part of the furniture of a brougham, but I really cannot tell you if there is a lash upon it or not.’