Her heart was beating fast. She was not exactly nervous, but as her riding in old times had been of the slightest and most superficial kind, she was truly thankful to find that Miss Nelly was gentle in temperament, and not thoroughbred, if to be thoroughbred meant starting at every shadow, and turning eyes like dark jewels to look at the smallest obstruction that appeared on the road.
"It's all right," said Bridget, noticing the uneasiness in Janet's face. "Wild Hawk is a bit fresh, the beauty, but he'll quiet down and go easily enough after I have taken it out of him a bit."
"What do you mean by 'taking it out of him,' Bridget? He does not seem to care much for this easy sort of trot, and he really does start so that he is making Miss Nelly quite nervous."
"Substitute Miss Janet for Miss Nelly," said Bridget, with a saucy curl of her lips, "and you will get nearer to the truth. As to its being taken out of the horse, you don't call this little easy amble anything? Wait until we get on to the breezy hill, and then you will see what kind of pranks Wild Hawk and I will play together."
"But nowhere near Miss Nelly, I hope," said Janet.
"Nowhere near Miss Nelly?" replied Bridget. "Dear me, Janet, you don't suppose I am taking you out like this to lead you into any sort of danger? I am not mean enough for that."
"Some girls would be mean enough," said Janet, almost in a whisper.
"Would they? Not the sort of girls I would have anything to do with. Now, here we are on the top of the hill. Do you see these acres and acres of common land which surround us, and do you notice that small cottage or hovel which looks something like a speck in the far distance? It is in that hovel that the poor people live whom I am going to see. Now I mean to ride for that hovel straight as an arrow from a bow. There are fences and sunk ditches in the way, but Wild Hawk and I care for none of these things. You, my dear Janet, will follow this little stony path on Miss Nelly's back; it is a considerable round to the hovel over there on the horizon, but it is very safe, and you can amble along as slowly as you please. I shall be at the cottage nearly half an hour before you get to it, but what matter? Now then, Wild Hawk, cheer up, my king; go like the wind, or like the bird after whom you are named, my darling."
Bridget rode on a few paces in front of Janet; then she suddenly bent forward, until her lips nearly touched Wild Hawk's arched neck. Janet thought that the wild Irish girl had whispered a word to the wild horse; the next moment the two were seen flying through space together. The horse seemed to put wings to his feet, his slender feet scarcely touched the ground. With the lightness and sureness of a bird he cleared the fences which came in this way. Janet could not help drawing in her breath with a deep sigh—half of envy, half of admiration.
"How splendid Bridget O'Hara is," she murmured; "such a figure, such a face, such a bold, brave spirit! There is something about her which, if the Fates were at all fair, even I could love. But they are not fair," continued Janet, an angry flush filling her cheeks; "they have given her too much, and me too little. I must help myself out of her abundance, and there's noway of doing it but by humbling her."