“No, Miles, you can do nothing, though ’tis like you to want to help, and I do thank you. But⁠—oh well!⁠ ⁠… What about my mare?”

“Plague take me if I’d not forgotten! Jack, that scoundrel of mine let her strain her fetlock. I’m demmed sorry.”

“Poor Jenny! I’ll swear she gave him an exciting ride, though.”

“I’ll be trying to buy her off ye, Jack, if I see much of her. ’Tis a little beauty she is.”

“I’m not selling, though I intended to ask you to keep her, if⁠—”

A quick pressure on his arm arrested him.

“That will do! I’m too heavy for her anyway.”

“So was that devil of a groom you put on her.”

“Ay. I’m a fool.”