“No part of it fatigues me but getting off this horse, I assure you,” said she, as she sprang down with his help; “I am very strong. And now that the lovely clouds are coming up, I dare say I feel invincible. Nothing ever fatigues me but doing what I do not like. Miss Price, I give way to you with a very bad grace; but I sincerely hope you will have a pleasant ride, and that I may have nothing but good to hear of this dear, delightful, beautiful animal.”

The old coachman, who had been waiting about with his own horse and glancing about him somewhat gruffly and suspiciously, now joined them. Fanny was lifted on hers, and they set off across another part of the park; her feelings of discomfort not lightened by seeing, as she looked back, that the others were walking down the hill together to the village. Nor did her attendant do her much good by his comments on Miss Crawford’s great cleverness as a horse-woman, which he had been watching with an interest almost equal to her own.

“It is a pleasure to see a lady with such a good heart for riding!” said he, after complaining a bit about strange-looking fellows stumbling about the property and how young ladies must take care. “I never see one sit a horse better. She did not seem to have a thought of fear. Very different from you, miss, when you first began, six years ago come next Easter. Lord bless you! how you did tremble when Sir Thomas first had you put on!—Oh, look! there, miss, there he goes again, that odd fellow, or maybe that is some other one—”

Fanny glanced to look in the direction he pointed, but there appeared to be no one there. “But now, though I no longer tremble, it does not make one bit of difference,” she thought.

In the drawing-room Miss Crawford was also celebrated. Her merit in being gifted by Nature with strength and courage was fully appreciated by the Miss Bertrams. Her delight in riding and her early excellence in it was like their own, and they had great pleasure in praising it.

“Indeed, it was as though the horse itself was enthralled by the splendid ability of the rider!” said Edmund, adding, “Which reminds me, I thought I saw a bit of sanguined foam at the side of its neck. Poor beast, it must have grazed a tree branch. So enthralled was I in observation that I forgot to mention to the groom to check it.”

“I was sure she would ride well,” said Julia; “she has the make for it. Her figure is as neat as her brother’s.”

“Yes,” added Maria, “and her spirits are as good, and she has the same energy of character. I cannot but think that good horsemanship has a great deal to do with the mind.”