I knew that Colonel Goff would not only stay the afternoon but the evening also. He had been doing it ever since the war, for he regarded his General’s home as his also. The assurance of the man incensed me. The divine right of his old kings seemed to have been born in him; and now that he had won Eloise, she and The Home Stretch and all that it contained were his whenever he chose to have them. Eloise would tease him in pure wantonness, and scorn him, and even ridicule him; for all of which he worshipped her, as is apt to be the way with men. Yet I very quickly noticed the little touch of sadness, which, despite her efforts, fell over her so suddenly. To her wit and repartee, her fun and humor, his only answer would be flashes of his fine teeth, and his favorite exclamation, "Fawncy now, but isn’t that a blooming good one?" I was convinced that he loved Eloise and was proud of her; but I thought it was such a feeling as he might have for any beautiful animal, the same worship he might easily have bestowed upon an Arab mare of the desert. It was not long before Colonel Goff and Aunt Lucretia were in their usual dispute about horses and he was scolding her for letting Eloise ride Satan: "Ah, that unregistered fool! Really, my dear madam, you should not let her go near him, he’ll be the death of her yet. Now, there is my imported Irish hunter; he’s got a head as well as legs; say now—suppose I just send him over for her," and he looked at Eloise to see what she would say. Eloise threw up her fine head significantly. "The idea, Colonel Goff! Why, I wouldn’t be caught riding him! That big thing better than Satan! Why His Satanic Majesty can gallop rings all around him." Colonel Goff laughed. "Fawncy!" "Yes, fawncy!" said Eloise, mimicking him, which made him flush again and then look at her admiringly. Aunt Lucretia broke in. "He can," she said very firmly. "I wonder, Colonel Goff, why you should send to England for a horse when you have better ones at home?" Colonel Goff laughed loudly. "Why you even think that bang-tailed son of Nestor can jump," went on Aunt Lucretia, laying her trap quietly for him. This was the one strong point of the son of Nestor, and the one thing about him that his owner had published on his arrival. "Madam," he said with great seriousness, a bit offended, "madam, I think I told you before that he held the championship for cross-country at Melton-Mowbry." "Oh, so you did," said my Aunt Lucretia, ever so sweetly, "and yet I believe Satan can beat him both at the distance and over the hurdles." Goff laughed, but not as though pleased. He was too well-bred to reply to Aunt Lucretia in her kind. So he only tapped his boot, and looked at Eloise, who smiled sweetly at him, as if urging him on.