"Oh, you're back, Simon," Eleanor was beginning, when she caught sight of his face.
" Who had Timber out? " he said, furious.
"I had," Brat said.
"Timber is my business and you have no right to have him out when my back is turned."
"Someone had to exercise him to-day," Brat said mildly.
" No one exercises Timber but me. No one. If I'm going to be responsible for jumping him, then I say when he is to be exercised, and I do the exercising."
"But, Simon," Eleanor said, "that is absurd. There are — "
"Shut up!" he said, through his teeth.
"I will not shut up! The horses are Brat's, and if anyone says who does what, and when, then it is — "
"Shut up, I tell you. I won't have a ham-handed lout from the backwoods ruining a good piece of horseflesh like Timber."