IN THE HIDING-SCHOOL. 167 



has yet something to learn about turning. 

 However, after a little trot and the usual clos- 

 ing walk, the lesson ends, and you retire from 

 the ring, with the exception of Nell, who, hav- 

 ing been taught by an amateur to leap in a more 

 or less unscientific manner, has begged the mas- 

 ter to give her "one little lesson," a proposi- 

 tion to which he has consented. 



The hurdle is brought out, placed half-way 

 down one of the long sides of the school, and 

 Nell walks her horse quietly down the other, 

 turns him, turns him again as she comes on 

 the second long side, shakes her reins lightly, 

 putting him to a canter, and is over — "beau- 

 tifully," you say to yourself, as you watch her 

 enviously. 



" You did not fall off," the master comments, 

 coiling the lash of the long whip with which he 

 has stood beside the hurdle during Miss Nell's 

 performance, "but you did not guard yourself 

 against falling when you went up, and had you 

 had some horses, you might have come down 

 before he did, although that is not so easy for a 

 lady as it is for a man. When you start for 

 a leap, you must draw your right foot well back, 



