‘Fiddlefumblehisidiot—no go—give it up.’
Lesbia shrieked.
‘Yes, you’d better give it up; why don’t you call her simply Fidge, as I do?’
‘Well, Fidge, then; she told us you had the pony out for practice, and as we knew there are no hedges about here except in this direction, we struck right.’
‘But how did you three get allied?’ asked the vicar. ‘Blemmyketts, Dimpleton, and Lockstable, an unlikely firm, eh? almost as unlikely as those people in that book, you know—what’s it called?—dear me—’
‘Oh, ah, yes, indeed,’ chimed in Mr Lockstable, ‘what the deuce is the book called, and what the devil’s the name of those people, you know, Miss Dimpleton, hang me, Miss Dimpleton—’
‘I think the subject is not worth pursuing, Mr Lockstable,’ said Rose, with a severe frown. But she might as well have frowned at a guide-post, for Athelstan was already rapt.
‘Well, Lesbia, you soon pick up the bits, I will say,’ observed Miss Blemmyketts, as she clasped her young friend’s hand. ‘And so glad to see you ride in that rational style. Some Philadelphian girls who were staying with us did it, but I guess they didn’t tumble over fences as you do.’
‘You've none of you told me yet, Miss Blemmyketts, how you three came to be in company,’ said the vicar.
‘Well, you see, Miss Dimpleton’s our mutual friend, and Mr Lockstable happened to be making tracks here too, to see Lesbia’s reformed riding, and we met him just as he reached the vicarage. That’s how we came together, Mr Bristley, and not for nothing; but I hope Lesbia won’t break her neck.’
‘If I had considered that, Letty,’ said Lesbia, ‘I should
