Jack held back an instant.

“My mare?” he asked, and O’Hara noted the anxiety in his voice.

“Ye need not be after worrying about her,” he said. “George!” The footman sprang forward.

“Yessir?”

“Ye see that mare? I want ye to ride her home. Can ye do it?”

“Yessir!”

“I doubt it,” murmured Jack.

So did Jenny. She refused point blank to allow this stranger to mount her. Her master had left her in one spot, and there she would stand until he chose to bid her move. In vain did the groom coax and coerce. She ran round him and seemed a transformed creature. She laid her ears flat and gnashed at the bit, ready to lash out furiously at the first opportunity.