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“This isthe horse between her knees

With a kick of his heels, the horse set off at a canter Ignoring the er, opted to head for the open fields Immediately it was necessary to cliher and higher into the treeless Peaks

Alice’s bonnet, a snug fit about her face, protected her fro spits of rain The journey was hard on both horse and riders The wind, as they moved out of the shelter of valley, buffeted the at the mane of the horse Edmund kept the reins in his own hands

Now and again, the great black stallion snorted and tossed his head up and down, as if in protest His brisk canter slowed to a trot, and as they reached the steepest inclines, he stoly frustrated Alice envisaged herforlornly by and no sign of their only child The tiave out beneath the horse’s hooves, causing them to sink deeper into the peat

It was as they reached the top of the Peaks that it becaone las “A shoe has co inn and hope they can provide a replacement”

Alice groaned in frustration On foot, Edmund led the horse towards the inn, which lay less than half a htly off their chosen path As they one and lying on its side The coached wheel The passengers gone, no doubt by foot to the comfort of the inn

“This turnpike is a disgrace,” said Edh in summer, by winter when covered in snow, it is impossible”

Alice leant forward over the horse’s mane “Will the inn have a spare horse?”

“I don’t know I pray they do”

Ed factor While Alice took a bowl of broth, standing by the blazing fire with the passengers of the abandoned coach, Edmund convinced the innkeeper to release a horse to hied hands

The steed—people on his back—wasn’t the fastestThe horse’s broad shoulders forced Alice’s legs apart even wider than the last mount, but she didn’t complain

Descending the winding paths, the horse’s gait rocked and slipped as he struggled with his footing She clung to his thick mane of coarse white hair Ed hi him when he stumbled Eventually, they reached a sturdier path and picked up speed Noas evening, the hidden sun quickly lowering in the sky and the glooreorse Alice’s heart sunk with it She feared they were too late Before them lay Macclesfield and her parents’ house

Eds could barely function Supporting her weight as she dismounted, he led her into Dodsworth House The borrowed horse, once fed and watered, would be returned to the coaching inn and with luck his oly shod horse returned by first light

For aRiding two abreast on a horse over such a terrain hadboth horses to their liive him in time

Alice, her body shivering, hovered in the doorway She had told Edmund as they approached the house that she feared they were too late