Madame Max was immediately off her
horse. "Oh, Mr. Finn, are you hurt?"
But Phineas, happily, was not hurt. He was shaken and dirty, but not
so shaken, and not so dirty, but that he was on his legs in a minute,
imploring his companion not to mind him but go on. "Going on doesn't
seem to be so easy," said Madame Goesler, looking at the ditch as she
held her horse in her hand. But to go back in such circumstances is a
terrible disaster. It amounts to complete defeat; and is tantamount
to a confession that you must go home, because you are unable to ride
to hounds. A man, when he is compelled to do this, is almost driven
to resolve at the spur of the moment that he will give up hunting for
the rest of his life. And if one thing be more essential than any
other to the horseman in general, it is that he, and not the animal
which he rides, shall be the master. "The best thing is to stick him
at it till he do," the groom had said; and Phineas resolved to be
guided by the groom.
But his first duty was to attend on Madame Goesler.
Pages:
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273