"Are you a horse-dealer?" asked Pastor Lindal, of Hardy, one evening. "No, certainly not," replied Hardy. "You have shown every qualification for it," said the Pastor. "Possibly," said Hardy. "I see I have done this also too well. I only wanted the horses for my mother's carriage. She likes an open light carriage, and it is difficult to procure really good horses in England of a suitable size. The horses I have bought will suit her exactly, if we have good luck with them; that is, that they turn out well, and we have no accident with them. I shall buy a light four-wheel carriage at Horsens, and my groom will drive them, and we shall then see if it be necessary to discard either or both, before they are taken to England." "But why did you send for a horse from England?" said Pastor Lindal, to whom a horse was a horse and a cow was a cow. "I fear because I like a good horse," replied Hardy. "Your Jutland horses are not adapted to the saddle, except for lady's hacks, or light carriage work; my English horse would jump the ditches that abound in your Danish fields, and would, for instance, jump your garden wall." "That I am sure no horse can," said the Pastor, decidedly. "Does he mean, father," said Froken Helga, "that his horse can jump our garden wall?" "Yes," said Hardy; "it is scarcely five feet. But will you promise, Froken Helga, that if my horse does jump the wall, that you will not say that the horse does it too well? It is not me, but the horse that jumps the wall." Helga looked annoyed at the reference made to her saying that he sang and played too well for any one to follow after him, but she said nothing. Karl and Axel had listened. They too thought it impossible; but they believed in Hardy. "Well, Karl," said Hardy, "don't you believe in me and the English horse?" "No," said Karl. "A horse cannot jump the garden wall by himself, much more with a man on his back; no horse could do it. But I believe you can do anything." "Well, Herr Pastor," said Hardy, "I have no one who believes in me or my horse. Froken Helga regards me with suspicion; and no one in Jutland appears to believe more than they see." "Yes; but it is impossible," said Pastor Lindal. The next day after breakfast, Buffalo and one of the Danish horses were taken to the parsonage by Robert Garth. Buffalo had an English saddle on, and looked fully recovered from his journey to Denmark, and fit for anything. The Pastor, his daughter, and his two boys came out to see the English horse. Froken Helga had not seen it before, and it struck her as being the handsomest horse she had ever seen; and she observed the respect the English groom showed Hardy. "What do you think of the oats, Bob?" said Hardy. "First-rate," said Garth, touching his hat; "they have picked Buffalo up wonderful, and he is fit to go anywhere."