Mathilde Jensen was about two and twenty, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes, and light hair, and a cheerful manner. "How is your beautiful horse, Herr Hardy?" she asked.
"Quite fit to run another race," replied Hardy. "But do not you Danish ladies ride?"
"Yes. We have each our own horse, and we often ride with father and by ourselves short distances," said Frøken Mathilde; "but they are not such good horses as those you have purchased in Denmark."
"They are never satisfied with their horses," said the proprietor; "they are always wanting me to buy a horse of a different colour than what they have got--first it's chesnut, and then dark bay."
"Would you like to ride one of my Danish horses?" said Hardy. "They have been frequently ridden."
"No, no; don't go putting that in their heads, Herr Hardy!" protested the proprietor. "They never had a petticoat on their backs."
"If Frøken Mathilde would lend her side saddle and an old skirt, my man shall try both the horses, while we are here," said Hardy. "I have no lady's saddle here, but from what I know of the horses there is no doubt but that they will carry a lady quietly, and better backs for a lady I have seldom seen."
Proprietor Jensen's desire to see an English groom, whom he saw understood his business, handling his favourite animal, a horse, overcame whatever scruples he may have had as to its leading to his daughters riding Hardy's horses, and in a few minutes one of the horses was mounted by Garth, with a skirt tied to his waist, and the horse trotted and cantered up and down the avenue. The other horse was also tried. The English groom's perfect riding was much praised by the proprietor.
"Do let me ride, father, just once up and down," begged Frøken Mathilde; and before her father could object, she had slipped the skirt that Garth had just untied from his waist over her dress and mounted, with Garth's assistance.
It was a pretty sight to see the handsome girl's enjoyment of riding the well-trained horse, as she rode up to where her father and mother and Hardy were standing.
"Oh, father!" she exclaimed, "you must get me a horse like this, or I shall die, I know I shall;" and she went up and kissed her father in a coaxing manner.