“All right!”
Then he looked at me, and said:
“He is very small, yet.”
But the valet said:
“He promised not to cry when he falls down.”
The master laughed and went away.
Then they brought three saddled horses, and we took off our cloaks and walked down a staircase to the riding-school. The master was holding a horse by a cord, and my brothers rode around him. At first they rode at a slow pace, and later at a trot. Then they brought a pony. It was a red horse, and his tail was cut off. He was called Ruddy. The master laughed, and said to me:
“Well, young gentleman, get on your horse!”
I was both happy and afraid, and tried to act in such a manner as not to be noticed by anybody. For a long time I tried to get my foot into the stirrup, but could not do it because I was too small. Then the master raised me up in his hands and put me on the saddle. He said:
“The young master is not heavy—about two pounds in weight, that is all.”
At first he held me by my hand, but I saw that my brothers were not held, and so I begged him to let go of me. He said:
“Are you not afraid?”
I was very much afraid, but I said that I was not. I was so much afraid because Ruddy kept dropping his ears. I thought he was angry at me. The master said: