rate's day with the old horse 217 



never do that, ride if it is only half-a-dozen fences, 

 just to please your old father, and to show that 

 young woman at the Hall the difference between 

 riding and being carried, between hands and 

 paws." 



Those who loved Kate best would always have 

 been the first to admit that she had just " the laste 

 bit of the divvle in her, God bless her," and hence 

 it was perhaps that her father's diplomatic sugges- 

 tion as to the eclipse of her rival brought the 

 colour to her cheek and the light to her eyes. 

 " Do you really want me to, father ? " 

 "Eeally, really, Kate, and now let us go and have 

 a look at Joe." 



* * * * * 



I am ashamed to say how old Joe was. Like 

 ladies, horses don't care to have their ages published 

 on every house-top, and though they cannot lie for 

 themselves on this important point, they have no 

 difficulty in finding many to lie for them. 



Joe was said to have been eight when the Lowrys 

 bought him, and they had ridden the gallant brown 

 for seven years. But eight is a queer age in a 

 horse, as expansive and uncertain as the adjective 

 " young " when applied to spinsters. At the lowest 

 computation Joe was not less than fifteen, and a 

 " vet." who wanted to buy him once pledged his 



