A GENTLEWOMAN. 135 



That seems more like what you call her ' form.' Can 

 she ride?" 



" Oh, yes ! " Wynnerly answers, " she rides." And 

 his face suggests that he could say a great deal more 

 if he chose. 



"She does not look as if she could say *Bo' to a 

 goose," the young lady remarked. 



" Don't you give her the chance. Miss Kitty," is the 

 somewhat vague repartee of a cavalier in attendance, 

 who has just come from town, where he has presumably 

 undergone a course of modern comedy. 



All this is at the meet one December morning, and 

 Miss Kitty's blue nose and purple cheeks show that the 

 wind is keen. We are walking along the lane towards 

 the covert that is to be drawn first, and some way ahead, 

 in the midst of the throng, surely enough some one 

 espies Miss Earle on a chestnut mare that has often 

 distinguished herself with these hounds. 



I despair of picturing Florence Earle in words. Her 

 face would be rather beautiful than pretty but for the 

 look of gentle kindness which is its chief character- 

 istic, and a simplicity of expression altogether remote 

 from the haughtiness which seems to be suggested by 

 the word "beauty." A slight flush is on her cheeks, but 

 the wintry wind does not appear to affect her, and there 

 are no signs of that highly coloured rawness which is 

 so decidedly perceptible in Miss Kitty. Looking at 

 Florence Earle as she sits at once so firmly and so 

 lightly on her mare, which seems so proud of her burden 



