"Elsie, my daughter, don't allow yourself to speak so extravagantly," interrupted her father.
"I will try not, papa," she answered. "I beg your pardon, Horace dear, and assure you I think you are quite a manly young man. Now I must prepare for my ride, papa. I shall be ready by the time the horses can be brought to the door."
"Papa," said Horace, as the door closed upon his sister, "may I ride Gip to-day?"
"If you promise me to keep close beside the carriage."
"Oh, papa, can't I ride on ahead a little, now and then, or fall a few paces behind if I wish?"
"No; you may do just what I have given permission for, and nothing else."
CHAPTER FOURTH.
"Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,
In ev'ry gesture, dignity and love."
—MILTON'S PARADISE LOST.
"But, Elsie, what of Mr. Travilla?" asked her father, as he handed her into the saddle.