had lent all his earnings to get his old father out of some
distress, and they are not forthcoming; and all Dolly's earnings go to
support hers."

"And what would you like to do for them, Eleanor?"

Eleanor coloured now, but she could not go back. "If you think well of
Earle, and would like to have him in one of the empty cottages at
Rythmoor, I should be glad."

"They shall go in, the day we are married; and I wish you would find
somebody for the other. Now having made a pair of people happy and
established a house, would you like a gallop?"

Eleanor's cheeks were hot, and she would very much; but she answered,
"One of Tippoo's gallops?"--

"You do not know them yet. You have tried only a mad gallop. Tippoo!"
said Mr. Carlisle stooping and striking his riding glove against the
horse's shoulder,--"I am going a race with you, do you hear?"

His own charger at the same time sprang forward, and Tippoo to match!
But such a cradling flight through the air, Eleanor never knew until
now. There seemed no exertion; there was no jar; a smooth, swift,
arrowy passage over the ground, like what birds take under the clouds.
This was the gentlest of gallops, certainly, and yet it was at a rare
speed that cleared the miles very fast and left striving grooms in the
distance. Eleanor paid no attention to anything but the delight of
motion; she did not care where or how far she was carried on such
magical hoofs; but indeed the ride was beyond her beat and she did not
know the waymarks if she had observed them. A gradual slackening of
this pace of delight brought her back to the earth and her senses again.

"How was that?" said Mr. Carlisle. "It has done you no harm."

"I do not know how it was," said Eleanor, caressing the head and neck
of the magnificent animal she rode--"but I think this creature has come
out of the Arabian Nights. Tippoo is certainly an enchanted prince."

"I'll take care he is not disenchanted, then," said Mr. Carlisle. "That
gallop did us some service. Do you know where we are?"

"Not in the least."

"You will know presently."

And accordingly, a few minutes of fast riding brought them to a lodge
and a gate.

"Is this Rythdale?" said Eleanor, who had noticed the manner of the
gate-opener.

"Yes, and this entrance is near the house. You will see it in a moment
or two."

It appeared presently, stately and lovely, on the other side of an
extensive lawn; a grove of spruce firs making a beautiful settin