Page 76 of The Affairs of Ashmore Castle
‘Is it so very wonderful?’ Nina wondered, smiling.
‘More than I can express,’ Bobby said eagerly. ‘I’m trying to get up the courage to hunt cross-saddle next season, but I’d really like someone else to do it with me. There is one lady who hunts with the Fernie who rides across, but she’s very rich and eccentric and quite old, so nobody thinks much of it. It would be more shocking if I did it.’
‘Shocking,’ Nina repeated doubtfully. ‘What does your husband think about it?’
‘He’s used to it now. He didn’t like the idea at first, but when I explained how dangerous side-saddle is, he was converted, because he does love me awfully. He doesn’t mind just out on hacks. I haven’t tackled him yet over the hunting. But, Nina, wouldn’t you like to try it? Today, just riding out with me, I mean. I promise you, it will be a revelation. And then, with two of us, we could face the world together over the hunting question.’
‘I’d love to try it,’ Nina said, ‘but I don’t think Mr Cowling would like it. He’s said to me more than once how elegant a lady looks riding side-saddle.’
‘Well, that’s it,’ Bobby said. ‘That’s the whole issue. Why should a man dictate to us how we ride? No woman would ever be twisted up and packed into a side-saddle again if she could help it, risking her life and health and her horse’s well-being, losing the natural pleasure she might have, if she wasn’t forced to prostrate herself before the tyranny of silly fashion!’
‘You are passionate,’ Nina smiled. ‘But men decide everything we do, don’t they?’
‘And that’s why Mrs Anstruther can hunt across – because she’s a widow, and wealthy, so there’s no man to tell her what to do. She’s been doing it for five years. It caused a scandal in the papers the first year, but nobody says anything now.’
‘But you say she’s wealthy – isn’t that also the point? We’re married, our husbands keep us, without them we’d have no means to support ourselves. So we have to do what they want. Don’t we?’
Bobby looked at her for a moment, then said, ‘Well, that’s an argument for another day. One thing at a time. Would you like to try it today? No one will see us. We’ll just go over the fields and through the woods. Oh, do, Nina! You can’t imagine how glorious it feels.’
Nina needed no urging to want to do it. She remembered scrambling about on her pony as a child, and the freedom it had bestowed. ‘What do I wear?’
‘Just what you wear now. You have breeches and boots under your skirt. You can arrange the skirt, once you’re mounted, to cover your legs.’
She looked at Nina with an expression of such pleading and hopefulness that Nina laughed, and said, ‘I can’t resist you. Yes, I’ll try it.’
Bobby beamed. ‘I knew you were the right sort! I’ve held off from mentioning it before, until I was sure about you, but Kipper said the same when he met you. He liked you straight away.’
‘I liked him, too. Do I still ride Florence?’
‘No, she’s not very good for cross-saddle. You shall have Andante – he’s perfect. Come on, let’s get going! I can’t wait to see how you feel. It’s like being reborn.’
She pushed open the gate, and Nina followed, feeling excited and just a little bit nervous – not about the horses, but about the possible consequences. Aunt Schofield had always said a woman should make up her own mind about things, but she had been a widow a long time, and her husband had been no Mr Cowling.
