Lord Herbert himself opened the yard gate, for the horses had
already been suppered, and the men were in bed. He then walked by
her side down to the brick gate. A moment there, and she was free
and alone, with the wide green fields and the yellow moonlight all
about her.
She had some difficulty in making Dick go slowly--quietly she could
not--for the first minute or two, as lord Herbert had directed. He
had had but little exercise of late, and moved as if his four legs
felt like wings. Dorothy had ridden him very little since she came
to the castle, but being very handy, lord Charles had used him, and
one of the grooms had always taken him to ride messages. He had
notwithstanding had but little of the pleasure of speed for a long
time, and when Dorothy at length gave him the rein, he flew as if
every member of his body from tail to ears and eyelids had been an
engine of propulsion. But Dorothy had more wings than Dick. Her
whole being was full of wings. It was a small thing that she had not
had a right gallop since she left Wyfern; the strength she had been
putting forth to bear the Atlas burden that night lifted from her
soul, was now left free to upbear her, and she seemed in spirit to
soar aloft into the regions of aether.
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