Gypsy was a black pony with a white star on her forehead and a long
wavy tail. She was a pony with a personality--from the start Missy
recognized the pony as a person just as she recognized Poppy as a
person. When Gypsy gazed at you out of those soft, bright eyes, or
when she pricked up her ears with an alert listening gesture, or
when she turned her head and switched her tail with nonchalant
unconcern--oh, it is impossible to describe the charm of Gypsy. That
was it--"charm"; and the minute Missy laid eyes on the darling she
succumbed to it. She had thought herself absurdly but deep-rootedly
afraid of all horseflesh, but Gypsy didn't seem a mere horse. She
was pert, coquettish, coy, loving, inquisitive, naughty; both Tess
and Missy declared she had really human intelligence.
She began to manifest this the very day of her arrival. After Tess
had ridden round the town and shown off properly, she left the pony
in the sideyard of the sanitarium while she and Missy slipped off to
the summerhouse to enjoy a few stolen chapters from "The Duchess."
There was high need for secrecy for, most unreasonably, "The
Duchess" had been put under a parental ban; moreover Tess feared
there were stockings waiting to be darned.
Pages:
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285