Hilda was very lame, and there was fever in the hock. Angelica patted her neck, and turned away with a side glance at Caroline, who, she feared, would rebel at being led through the horses’ quarters. She walked down the row of stalls till she came to the corner, then up through another passage till she stopped at a big box-stall over the side of which stretched a black head set on a long, thoroughbred-looking neck. The small, fine ears, the width between the eyes, the square little muzzle, were familiar; and there was a white star on the forehead. But Angelica did not enumerate these things. Horses to her had personalities and faces, just as people had them. She recognized Lady Washington as she had recognized Mr. Livingstone. She made a little exclamation, and, standing on tiptoe, put her arms about the mare’s neck, and kissed it again and again. “The dear! She remembers me!” the girl said, wiping her eyes. “It’s Lady Washington,” she explained to Caroline. She reached up to fondle the little muzzle, and the mare nipped playfully. “Look out, miss,” called the stable-boy, who was sitting on a soap-box; “she’s mean.” “She’s no such thing,” said the girl. “Oh, ain’t she?” said the boy. “Well, if she is, you made her so,” retorted Angelica. The boy grinned. “I ain’t only been in the stable two weeks,” he said. “She caught me on the second day and nigh broke me leg. You see her act in the ring? Mr. Haughton says he won’t ride her no more, and she’s entered in the five-foot-six jumps.” The girl looked thoughtfully at the boy and then at the horse. An idea had come to her. She was reflecting upon the last words Mr. Haughton had spoken before she left the box: “_You can ride her whenever you like_.” “I know,” she said aloud. “I’m going to ride her in that class. I’m Miss Stanton. I used to own her, you know. My saddle is down there with Mr. Stanton’s horses, and I want you to go and get it.” “Oh, never, Miss Angelica!” exclaimed Caroline. “Dear me, not that!” “You hush,” said Angelica. The stable-boy looked at her incredulously. “I ain’t had no orders, miss,” he said. “I’ll have to see William. Did Mr. Haughton say you might?” “Of course he said I might,” she replied. The boy said no more and went off after William. “Of course he said I might,” she repeated half aloud. “Didn’t he say I might ride her ‘whenever I wanted to’? ‘Whenever’ is any time, and I want to now.” She fortified herself behind this sophistry, but she was all in a flutter lest Jim or Mr. Haughton should appear. The thought, however, of being on Lady Washington’s back, and showing people that she wasn’t sulky and bad-tempered, was a temptation too strong to be resisted. The boy came back with the head groom, to whom he had explained the matter.