On a Horseback

She is hesitating. She had turned the whole scenario over in her head at least twenty times. It’s no good. She had undressed herself in her chamber and looked at herself in the mirror. She needed more of them. I had to hold them up for her. She was looking for the picture that people would have of her. Wasted effort. She knows it. She wants to know how it will be when it is over. She can know. The sun will go down. The next day everyone will set to work again. The Earl will do as he promised. The rest are of no account. She can know it, but it is too dull. 

Fragment from On a horseback