beast in Hyde Park, her first battles with him were the town talk; and
there were those who bribed her footmen to inform them beforehand, when
my lady was to take out Devil, that they might know in time to be in the
Park to see her. Fops and hunting-men laid wagers as to whether her
ladyship would kill the horse or be killed by him, and followed her
training of the creature with an excitement and delight quite wild.

"Well may the beast's name be Devil," said more than one looker-on; "for
he is not so much horse as demon. And when he plunges and rears and
shows his teeth, there is a look in his eye which flames like her own,
and 'tis as if a male and female demon fought together, for surely such a
woman never lived before. She will not let him conquer her, God knows;
and it would seem that he was swearing in horse fashion that she should
not conquer him."

When he was first bought and brought home, Mistress Anne turned ashy at
the sight of him, and in her heart of hearts grieved bitterly that it had
so fallen out that his Grace of Osmonde had been called away from town by
high and important matters; for she knew full well, that if he had been
in the neighbourhood, he would have said some discreet and tender word of
warning to which her ladyship would have listened, though she would have
treated with disdain the caution of any other man or woman. When she
herself ventured to speak, Clorinda looked only stern.

"I have ridden only ill-tempered beasts all my life, and that for the
mere pleasure of subduing them," she said. "I have no liking for a horse
like a bell-wether; and if this one should break my neck, I need battle
with neither men nor horses again, and I shall die at the high tide of
life and power; and those who think of me afterwards will only remember
that they loved me--that they loved me."