Page:Crawford - Love in idleness.djvu/36

 reason why you shouldn't speak English. Here's the buckboard. Can you drive?"

"Oh—well—yes," replied the young man, rather doubtfully, and looking at the smart little turn-out.

Fanny Trehearne fixed her cool grey eyes on his face with a critical expression.

"Can you ride?" she asked, pursuing her examination.

"Oh, yes—that is—to some extent. I'm not exactly a circus-rider, you know—but I can get on."

"Most people can do that. The important thing is not to come off. What can you do—anyway? Are you a good man in a boat? You see I've only met you in society. I've never seen you do anything."

"No," answered Lawrence. "I'm not a good man in a boat, as you call it—except that I'm never sea-sick. I don't know anything about boats, if you mean sail-boats. I can row a little—that's all."

"If you could 'row,' as you call it, you'd say you could 'pull an oar'—you wouldn't