“Hit them!” she answered, with a touch of pride; “I don’t think he ever misses them. I wish he could do other things as well.”
Jeremy at once went up at least fifty per cent. in Ernest’s estimation.
On their way back to the house they peeped in through the office window, and Ernest saw “hard-riding Atterleigh” at his work, copying deeds.
“He’s your grandfather, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know you?”
“In a sort of a way; but he is quite mad. He thinks that Reginald is the devil, whom he must serve for a certain number of years. He has got a stick with numbers of notches on it, and he cuts out a notch every month. It is all very sad. I think it is a very sad world;” and she sighed again.
“Why does he wear hunting-clothes?” asked Ernest.
“Because he always used to ride a good deal. He loves a horse now. Sometimes you will see him get up from his writing-table, and the tears come into his eyes if anybody comes into the yard on horseback. Once he came out and tried to get on to a horse and ride off, but they stopped him.”
“Why don’t they let him ride?”