THE STRAIGHT RIDER.
_(FROM "BLACK AND WHITE?" BY PERMISSION.)_
"My _dear_ Mabel, how pale you look! It is this hot room. I am sure
Lord Saint Sinnes will not mind taking you for a little turn in the
garden--between the dances."
My Lord Saint Sinnes--or Billy Sinnes as he is usually called by his
friends--shuffled in his high collar. It is a remarkable collar,
nearly related to a cuff, and it keeps Lord Saint Innes in
remembrance of his chin. If it were not that this plain young
nobleman were essentially a gentleman, one might easily mistake him
for a groom. Moreover, like other persons of equine tastes, he has
the pleasant fancy of affecting a tight and horsey "cut" in clothes
never intended for the saddle.
The girl, addressed by her somewhat overpowering mother as Mabel,
takes the proffered arm with a murmured acquiescence and a quivering
lip. She is paler than before.
Over his stiff collar Lord Saint Sinnes looks down at her--with
something of the deep intuition which makes him the finest
steeplechaser in England. Perhaps he notes the quiver of the lip, the
sinews drawn tense about her throat. Such silent signals of distress
are his business. Certainly he notes the little shiver of abject fear
which passes through the girl's slight form as they pass out of the
room together.
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