"Yes, yes," cried Sally, "and climb I will!"
And now that evenings of study had stopped for awhile, Sally went again after supper to the beloved seat at Ingleside. And Lady Lucretia Grandison and Lady Rosamond Earlscourt strolled often over to the arbor and chatted gaily while their white fingers held the embroidery at which they worked continually when not reading.
Many the scarf, cape, or flowing sleeve they worked themselves with which to deck their fair necks, shoulders, and arms.
One evening, as Sally sat dreaming on the stones, she heard Rosamond Earlscourt say:
"I must furbish up my riding-suit, for cousin Lionel will want to mount Hotspur once he is home again, and I my Lady Grace."
And Lucretia answered, "Lionel liketh best to ride alone when on Hotspur's back. Do not you remember he thought it made Hotspur impatient to have another horse beside him, and raised his temper?"
"Then there are other horses he can ride," returned Rosamond. "My beautiful Lady Grace is tired of standing in the stable, but I like not to ride alone or only with a groom for company."
These words seemed to rouse something in Sally's soul, and she cried, inwardly:
"Oh, why could not I have a 'Lady Grace,' a dear horse of my own on which to fly across the country? I could ride, I know I could, and oh, oh! I feel it within me that a fine horse, fine books, fine clothes, a fine house, all, all that I see at Ingleside or Cloverlove, would fit into my soul!"
"Dear child," said her Fairy, pityingly, "it is hard not to have what the heart cries out for. Why not try to find out more about yourself? Have you ever questioned Mistress Brace about your father, or it might be about your mother, or what she may know of the home from whence they came?"