commonplace mortal may be--listened with conjugal patience, and thought
that man never had such a wife before; nor was it without tears in his
own eyes that he tore himself from the farewell embrace of his weeping
Carry.

I confess, however, that it was with some apprehension that he set his
foot in the stirrup, and trusted his person to the mercies of an
unfamiliar animal. For, whatever might be Mr. Dale's minor
accomplishments as man and parson, horsemanship was not his forte.
Indeed, I doubt if he had taken the reins in his hand more than twice
since he had been married.

The squire's surly old groom, Mat, was in attendance with the pad; and,
to the parson's gentle inquiry whether Mat was quite sure that the pad
was quite safe, replied laconically, "Oi, oi; give her her head."

"Give her her head!" repeated Mr. Dale, rather amazed, for he had not the
slightest intention of taking away that part of the beast's frame, so
essential to its vital economy,--"give her her head!"

"Oi, oi; and don't jerk her up like that, or she'll fall a doincing on
her hind-legs."

The parson instantly slackened the reins; and Mrs. Dale--who had tarried
behind to control her tears--now running to the door for "more last
words," he waved his hand with courageous amenity, and ambled forth into
the lane.

Our equestrian was absorbed at first in studying the idiosyncrasies of
the pad-mare, and trying thereby to arrive at some notion of her general