“That is so like a man--and yet so unlike the proud one I believed you to be. Why should a man like you even consider such a possibility? If I were a man I know I couldn't.” She turned upon him a glance so clear and untroubled by either conscious vanity or evasion that he was hopelessly convinced of the truth of her statement, and she went on in a slightly lowered tone, “You have no right to ask me such a question,--but perhaps for that reason I am willing to answer you. There is none. Hush! For a good rider you are setting a poor example to the others, by crowding me towards the bank. Go forward and talk to Phemie, and tell her not to worry Mrs. Ashwood's horse nor race with her; I don't think he's quite safe, and Mrs. Ashwood isn't accustomed to using the Spanish bit. I suppose I must say something to Mr. Shipley, who doesn't seem to understand that I'M acting as chaperon, and YOU as captain of the party.” She cantered forward as she spoke, and Grant was obliged to join her sister, who, mounted on a powerful roan, was mischievously exciting a beautiful quaker-colored mustang ridden by Mrs. Ashwood, already irritated by the unfamiliar pressure of the Eastern woman's hand upon his bit. The thick dust which had forced the party of twenty to close up in two solid files across the road compelled them at the first opening in the roadside fence to take the field in a straggling gallop. Grant, eager to escape from his own discontented self by doing something for others, reined in beside Euphemia and the fair stranger. “Let me take your place until Mrs. Ashwood's horse is quieted,” he half whispered to Euphemia. “Thank you,--and I suppose it does not make any matter to Clem who quiets mine,” she said, with provoking eyes and a toss of her head worthy of the spirited animal she was riding. “She thinks you quite capable of managing yourself and even others,” he replied with a playful glance at Shipley, who was riding somewhat stiffly on the other side. “Don't be too sure,” retorted Phemie with another dangerous look; “I may give you trouble yet.”