"Of course it can. But a motor is impersonal; it is a thing, not a being. You cannot make it your slave. It is just a matter of steel, and petrol, and oil. It never becomes afraid of you."
"What of that?" asked Dick.
"Without fear there is no real mastery," replied Romanoff.
"But surely the mastery which is obtained through fear is an unsatisfactory sort of thing."
Romanoff looked at Dick as though on the point of replying, but he was silent.
"Anyhow, I love a horse," he ventured presently. "I love to feel his body alive beneath me, love to feel him spurn the ground beneath his feet."
"Yes; I, too, love a horse," replied Dick, "and do you know, although I've only been here a month, this chap loves me. He whines a welcome when I go to the stable, and he kind of cries when I leave."
"And he isn't afraid of you?" asked Romanoff.
"Afraid!" cried Dick. "I hope not. I should hate to feel that a thing I loved was afraid of me."
"Wait till you are married," laughed Romanoff.