"We will think about it. I should like to, if we could. It seems a pity that that nice little stable should stand empty; and there is the little paddock too. The pony could run there when he wasn't wanted, and that would save something in his keep. I have always been used to my little drives, and I miss them very much. But, of course, I shall not make up my mind in a hurry. I should like to see Mr. Trelawny about it all even before I write to Uncle Arthur."
A little shadow fell over Esther's face. She felt sure she knew what was coming.
"I wish, dear, you would just run up to the Crag and ask Mr. Trelawny if he would come down and see me about this."
The shadow deepened as the words were spoken, but Esther made only one effort to save herself the task.
"Couldn't Genefer go, mama? It is so hot!"
"It will be getting cooler every hour now, and there is plenty of shade through the wood. Have you had a walk to-day?"
"No, mama; I have been busy. Saturday is always a busy day, you know."
"Then a walk will do you good, and you will go much quicker than Genefer. Bring Mr. Trelawny back with you if you can. You can tell him a little about it, and he will know that it is important. You have time to go and come back before your tea-time."
Esther did not argue the matter any more. She had never betrayed to any living creature this great fear which possessed her. She was half ashamed of it, yet she could never conquer it. She was more afraid of Mr. Trelawny than of anything in the world beside. He was like the embodiment of all the wizards, and genii, and magicians, and giants which she had read of in her fairy story-books, or of the mysterious historic personages over whom she had trembled when poring over the pages of historical romance.
He was a very big man, with a very big voice, and he always talked in a way which she could not fully understand, and which almost frightened her out of her wits.