Mr. Dinsmore, who was with them, offered to teach her, and to give the first lesson that afternoon.
“Thank you, Cousin Horace, I’ll be very glad to have you do so,” she said; “but you’ll be pretty sure to find me very awkward, and will have many a laugh at my expense, I dare say.”
“I hope we shall not show ourselves so rude as that,” returned Mr. Dinsmore pleasantly; “or be so unreasonable as to expect good horsemanship from you at the start. Elsie had been riding for several years when I first took her in hand, yet I found there were some things relating to the art that I could teach her.”
“And papa is such a nice teacher, Annis,” Elsie said, looking up at him with loving admiration; “he never calls you stupid and never gets the least bit out of patience, no matter how dull or awkward you are.”
“Elsie makes a good trumpeter, and without any instruction in that line,” was Mr. Dinsmore’s laughing comment on her remark.
The little girls had driven to the stables and the pretty phaeton stood before the door with the ponies still attached.
“Papa,” said Elsie, “I have taken Annis all round the grounds twice, may we go outside now?”
“Yes, if you will accept of my escort, but not otherwise.”
“Oh, we’ll be only too glad, papa!” was Elsie’s eager rejoinder; and turning to a servant, Mr. Dinsmore bade him saddle a horse for him to ride.
They drove several miles, Mr. Dinsmore keeping by the side of the phaeton all the way and making himself extremely pleasant and entertaining.