He's eager and impatient, and quite
unaccustomed to strangers. Dad would be awfully annoyed if you had any
trouble with him."
"I don't fancy Uncle David would be given any need for annoyance,"
Cecil replied. "I'm a bit sick of this old mare, and I don't think it
would hurt you to lend me Bobs. It's uncommonly selfish of you to want
to keep him always."
Norah's flush deepened.
"I'm awfully sorry you think that," she said. "And I'll speak to Dad
about your riding him, if you like--another time."
"Another time? Then what's the matter with my riding him now? I
suppose," said Cecil with a sneer, "you want to show off in Cunjee."
Norah stared at him blankly for a moment. Rudeness had been always so
far from her that she did not for a moment comprehend that this boy was
being deliberately rude. Then she walked round Bobs without replying,
and unbuckled the girth.
"Please let me have my saddle," she said. Her voice was quite final.
Cecil was pale with anger. He flung round without a word, tugging at
the buckle until Betty, who was patient but girth-galled, pulled away
in protest. As it yielded Norah laid his saddle on the mare's withers,
and slipped her own away. Their eyes met for a moment as she did so--the
child's steady and a little scornful, the young man's shifty.
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