238 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



family are away I may possibly take you in." He returned 

 to inform me the countess was hunting. 



"Yes," said I; "I have reason to know she is hunting. 

 I had twenty minutes in her wake this very afternoon, and 

 it was the greatest twenty minutes of my life in the saddle." 



My praise of his lady so touched his heart that he 

 showed me all through the house. It was an unexpected 

 day, but one in which my cup was right side up from start 

 to finish. I take the liberty to relate this little adven- 

 ture freely by way of thanks for courtesies received and in 

 tribute to perfect riding. 



One thing that spoils many riding men and particularly 

 makes miserable many riding women is that the moment 

 they are accomplished enough to keep to the front, jealousy 

 of the accomplishments of others springs up in them. They 

 begin to talk about how they cut down So-and-so, and fish 

 generally for compliments. The women, at any rate, get 

 them, of course, which only intensifies their spirit of emula- 

 tion, and sooner or later will mark the end of their riding. 

 Yet, with all the lady rider's faults, we love her still. May 

 she never cease to grace the hunting-field with her pres- 

 ence. She certainly has a charmed as well as a charming 

 life in the saddle, and I, for one, welcome her ever if she 

 knows that every woman is a man in the hunting-field, and 

 that it is every man for himself, with his Satanic Majesty to 

 look after the hindmost. 



