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"
Riding
clothes
for
Meggie
.
Honestly
,
Paddy
,
you
're
a
first-class
idiot
!
Heir
to
the
biggest
,
richest
station
in
New
South
Wales
,
and
you
've
never
let
your
only
daughter
sit
a
horse
!
How
do
you
think
she
's
going
to
take
her
place
alongside
Miss
Carmichael
,
Miss
Hopeton
and
Mrs.
Anthony
King
,
equestriennes
all
?
Meggie
's
got
to
learn
to
ride
,
sidesaddle
as
well
as
astride
,
do
you
hear
?
I
realize
you
're
busy
,
so
I
'm
going
to
teach
Meggie
myself
,
and
you
can
like
it
or
lump
it
.
If
it
happens
to
interfere
with
her
duties
in
the
house
,
too
bad
.
For
a
few
hours
each
week
Fee
is
just
going
to
have
to
manage
minus
Meggie
,
and
that
's
that
.
"
One
thing
Paddy
could
n't
do
was
argue
with
a
priest
;
Meggie
learned
to
ride
forthwith
.
For
years
she
had
longed
for
the
chance
,
had
once
timidly
ventured
to
ask
her
father
might
she
,
but
he
had
forgotten
the
next
moment
and
she
never
asked
again
,
thinking
that
was
Daddy
's
way
of
saying
no
.
To
learn
under
the
aegis
of
Father
Ralph
cast
her
into
a
joy
which
she
did
n't
show
,
for
by
this
time
her
adoration
of
Father
Ralph
had
turned
into
an
ardent
,
very
girlish
crush
.
Knowing
it
was
quite
impossible
,
she
permitted
herself
the
luxury
of
dreaming
about
him
,
of
wondering
what
it
would
be
like
to
be
held
in
his
arms
,
receive
his
kiss
.
Further
than
that
her
dreams
could
n't
go
,
as
she
had
no
idea
what
came
next
,
or
even
that
anything
came
next
.
And
if
she
knew
it
was
wrong
to
dream
so
of
a
priest
,
there
did
n't
seem
to
be
any
way
she
could
discipline
herself
into
not
doing
it
.
The
best
she
could
manage
was
to
make
absolutely
sure
he
had
no
idea
of
the
unruly
turn
her
thoughts
had
taken
.
*
*
*
As
Mary
Carson
watched
through
the
drawing
room
window
,
Father
Ralph
and
Meggie
walked
down
from
the
stables
,
which
were
on
the
far
side
of
the
big
house
from
the
head
stockman
's
residence
.
The
station
men
rode
rawboned
stock
horses
which
had
never
seen
the
inside
of
a
stable
in
all
their
lives
,
just
shuffled
around
the
yards
when
penned
for
duty
,
or
frisked
through
the
grass
of
the
Home
Paddock
when
being
spelled
.
But
there
were
stables
on
Drogheda
,
though
only
Father
Ralph
used
them
now
.
Mary
Carson
kept
two
thoroughbred
hacks
there
for
Father
Ralph
's
exclusive
use
;
no
rawboned
stock
horses
for
him
.
When
he
had
asked
her
if
Meggie
might
use
his
mounts
also
,
she
could
not
very
well
object
.
The
girl
was
her
niece
,
and
he
was
right
.
She
ought
to
be
able
to
ride
decently
.
With
every
bitter
bone
in
her
swollen
old
body
Mary
Carson
had
wished
she
had
been
able
to
refuse
,
or
else
ride
with
them
.
But
she
could
neither
refuse
nor
hoist
herself
on
a
horse
anymore
.
And
it
galled
her
to
see
them
now
,
strolling
across
the
lawn
together
,
the
man
in
his
breeches
and
knee
boots
and
white
shirt
as
graceful
as
a
dancer
,
the
girl
in
her
jodhpurs
slim
and
boyishly
beautiful
.
They
radiated
an
easy
friendship
;
for
the
millionth
time
Mary
Carson
wondered
why
no
one
save
she
deplored
their
close
,
almost
intimate
relationship
.
Paddy
thought
it
wonderful
,
Fee
--
log
that
she
was
!
--
said
nothing
,
as
usual
,
while
the
boys
treated
them
as
brother
and
sister
.
Was
it
because
she
loved
Ralph
de
Bricassart
herself
that
she
saw
what
no
one
else
saw
?
Or
did
she
imagine
it
,
was
there
really
nothing
save
the
friendship
of
a
man
in
his
middle
thirties
for
a
girl
not
yet
all
the
way
into
womanhood
?
Piffle
!
No
man
in
his
middle
thirties
,
even
Ralph
de
Bricassart
,
could
fail
to
see
the
unfolding
rose
.
Even
Ralph
de
Bricassart
?
Hah
!
Especially
Ralph
de
Bricassart
!
Nothing
ever
missed
that
man
.
Her
hands
were
trembling
;
the
pen
sprinkled
dark-blue
drops
across
the
bottom
of
the
paper
.
The
gnarled
finger
plucked
another
sheet
from
a
pigeonhole
,
dipped
the
pen
in
the
standish
again
,
and
rewrote
the
words
as
surely
as
the
first
time
.
Then
she
heaved
herself
to
her
feet
and
moved
her
bulk
to
the
door
.
"
Minnie
!
Minnie
!
"
she
called
.
"
Lord
help
us
,
it
's
herself
!
"
the
maid
said
clearly
from
the
reception
room
opposite
.
Her
ageless
freckled
face
came
round
the
door
.
"
And
what
might
I
be
gettin
'
for
ye
,
Mrs.
Carson
darlin
'
?
"
she
asked
,
wondering
why
the
old
woman
had
not
rung
the
bell
for
Mrs.
Smith
,
as
was
her
wont
.
