"
"I am surprised now that I sent for you," said Lord Strathern,
"considering the difficulties in the way of your coming. But you are
here, and I thank God for it. But you would find it a long, rough ride
to Evora, and the weather grows hotter every day."
"Rough roads are nothing to us who travel on horseback," Lady Mabel
said, with the air of a cavalier; "and as for the distance, it is not
much over a morning's ride. Colonel L'Isle, could not you ride there
in a morning?"
"With relays of good horses, and good luck to my neck," said L'Isle,
with a laugh. "It is about fifty miles; but one need not go the whole
way in one day."
"Of course not," she answered. "We will not ride post, but take our
ease, and see the country at our leisure."
"I see you intend going, _ma belle_," said Lord Strathern; "so I may
as well give my consent with a good grace. But is the commissary able
and willing to take charge of more than one lady, Mrs. Shortridge,
who has a will of her own? I trust, too, L'Isle, that after giving
these ladies a taste for rambling, you do not mean to desert them
now. They may need your escort. Small parties are never safe traveling
about this country.
Pages:
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131