Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/45

 the stable. They made a good deal of fun of Gordon and his Goat in the village at first, but now they were familiar sights and had ceased to arouse comment.

After lunch he mounted The Goat again and trotted westward. It was quite within the range of possibility that what had happened once would happen again, and he turned in through the Fessenden gateway, quite prepared for a second meeting. He pulled The Goat down to a walk and followed the bridle path in and out through the forest. But although he passed several riders—for the roads of the estate were open to the public—he saw nothing of the sorrel with the three white stockings or of the girl with the scuffled brown boots. In the end he decided that he had come out too early, and so, having completed the circuit of the place and emerged at the north of the village, he turned around and walked The Goat slowly back again, much to that animal's bewilderment, since walking was something he was very seldom allowed to indulge in. But the return journey was as disappointing as the other, and he jogged back to the club, feeling rather