y animal of the species, however vicious. It
was therefore with great pleasure he heard that there was a singularly
refractory specimen in Mr. Gryll's stables.

[Illustration: A singularly refractory specimen 153-123]

The next morning after hearing this, he rose early, and took his
troublesome charge in hand. After some preliminary management he
proceeded to gallop him round and round a large open space in the park,
which was visible from the house. Miss Niphet, always an early riser,
and having just prepared for a walk, saw him from her chamber window
engaged in this perilous exercise, and though she knew nothing of
the peculiar character of his recalcitrant disciple, she saw by its
shakings, kickings, and plungings, that it was exerting all its energies
to get rid of its rider. At last it made a sudden dash into the wood,
and disappeared among the trees.

It was to the young lady a matter of implicit certainty that some
disaster would ensue. She pictured to herself all the contingencies of
accident; being thrown to the ground and kicked by the horse's hoofs,
being dashed against a tree, or suspended, like Absalom, by the hair.
She hurried down and hastened towards the wood, from which, just as she
reached it, the rider and horse emerged at full speed as before. But as
soon as Lord Curryfin saw Miss Niphet, he took a graceful wheel round,
and brought the horse to a stand by her side; for by this time he had
mastered the animal, and brought it to the condition of Sir Walter's
hunter in Wordsworth--

Weak as a lamb the hour that it is yeaned
And foaming like a mountain cataract{1}

She did not attempt to dissemble that she had come to look for him, but
said--

'I expected to find you killed.'

[Illustration: I expected to find you killed 156-124]

He said, 'You see, all my experiments are not failures. I have been more
fortunate with the horse than the sail.'

At this moment one of the keepers appeared at a little distance.
Lord Curryfin beckoned to him, and asked him to take the horse to the
stables. The keeper looked with some amazement, and exclaimed--

'Why, this is the horse that nobody could manage!'

'You will manage him easily enough now,' said _Lord Curryfin._

So it appeared; and the keeper took charge of him, not altogether
without misgiving.

Miss Niphefs feelings had been over-excited, the more so from the
severity with which she was accustomed to repress them. The energy