laid her ears back and increased the pace. At a little
distance a second obstacle showed itself, a whitethorn hedge that
looked like a hurdle.

Lady Godiva scarcely seemed to touch the ground with her hoofs. Her
mane and tail gleamed golden as they streamed on the mild evening
breeze. A pair of quails started up from amid the ripe corn.

The mare rose on her hind legs for the jump, then made a sudden violent
movement as though to avoid it. Behind the whitethorn yawned an abyss.

But the impetus of her motion carried her on, and a firm grip kept her
head forwards.

Early next morning when the stone-breakers came to their work they
found at the bottom of the precipice a dead woman and a dead horse.

There were no external injuries either to the animal or her rider. The
force of the fall must have killed them both. The terrified eyes of the
mare were staring into vacancy, but those of the woman--indeed she was
but a girl--were closed, and her small delicate hands still gripped the
bridle firmly.

The foreman sent a boy to inform the village-elder; the other workmen
stood in a silent circle round the unfortunate pair.

"Mates," said the foreman at last, "it's quite clear there is nothing
to be done. We'd better be getting back to work."

A lean, bearded man protested: "We might as well say a prayer first for
the poor creature." For the stone-breakers are a pious people; they
stand always with one foot in the grave. A loosened mass of chalk, a
collapsing wall, a mine exploding prematurely, may threaten their
lives; and the chalk-dust chokes their lungs so that they die early.

The bearded man took off his hat and began to pray. All the others
bared their heads.

After the "deliver us from evil" he inserted another petition: "And
grant to this poor lady, who has met with such a terrible and sudden
death, Thy eternal rest, we beseech Thee, O Lord! For Thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

One only had gone back to his work, an aged man who, with trembling
knees, was pushing a loaded wheelbarrow before him. He was himself too
near death for the sight of a corpse to strike him as anything out of
the common.

When he saw the others praying he set down his burden. His toothless
mouth stammered out his words with difficulty.

"What are you praying for?" he said. "That the Lord will grant her
eternal rest? Look at her, then! Isn't eternal rest written on her
face?"

Reimers