“What! On that horse? I can’t ride that creature,” declared Mrs. Welch with wide-open eyes, looking at his handsome horse which was still prancing from excitement.
“Why, he’s as quiet as a lamb—he’s carried double many a time, and several ladies have ridden him. I could get you there much quicker than you can drive. All you have to do is to hold on to me. Whoa, boy!”
“I know that sort of lamb,” declared Mrs. Welch, “What shall I do with my trunk?”
The young man’s confidence was telling on her and she was beginning to yield. The choice was between the two horses and she had had experience with one.
“Oh! your trunk’s all right. I’ll carry your trunk on,” agreed the driver. He had finished his mending and was gathering up his reins.
“Do you mean that you are going to get in there and try to drive that horse again?”
“That’s what I’m agoin’ to do ’m.”
“Then I’ll get in, too,” declared Mrs. Welch, firmly. Her face was pale, but there was a light in her eyes that made her suddenly handsome. The two men looked at her and both began to expostulate.
“I made him come, and I don’t mean that he shall risk his neck for me alone,” she declared, firmly, gathering up her skirts. But the horseman suddenly interfered.
“I couldn’t let you be run away with again under my very eyes,” he said, smiling, “I might be held accountable by your dau——by your fam——your Government.”