Barbara Cartland - 273. The Elusive Earl

“A creature half-horse, half-man,” the Earl smiled.

“I am glad to see you are more proficient in Greek than you are in good sense,” Calista remarked.

She looked beyond the Earl to where his stallion was trying to free himself from the bridle which held him to the post.

“What a magnificent horse!” she exclaimed in quite a different tone of voice.

“He is my new acquisition,” the Earl said. “Had I realised the part I was expected to play this morning, I would have brought a quieter animal.”

He went towards the stallion as he spoke to untie him.

The horse reared up, his front hoofs waving above the Earl’s head.

He talked quietly to the animal and, after patting his neck, swung himself lithely into the saddle almost before the stallion realised what was happening.

He turned the horse round to find that Calista had mounted as well.

“Thank you, sir, for your kindness in assisting me,” she said loudly and he realised that she spoke for the groom’s benefit.

“Bow to the gentleman, Centaur,” she commanded.

To the Earl’s surprise, her horse put out one front leg, bent the other and then lowered his head.

Next, without looking at the Earl again, Calista rode away.

He watched her go, realising that she had an excellent seat and rode superbly.

Then, as he thought of what she had said to him, the strange way that she had behaved and the manner in which she had thrown herself from her horse at his feet, the Earl smiled.

‘I must certainly discover what lies at the bottom of all this,’ he told himself.

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