No, you murmur to yourself, you have not read Delsarte, and, if you had, you do not believe that you could remember it or anything else just at present.  What an endless string of directions!  You wish that there was another pupil with you to take the burden of a few of them!  You wish you were—­oh!  Anywhere.  This is your obedience, is it Esmeralda?  Well, you don’t care!  This is dull!  Your horse thinks so, too.  He gently tries the reins, and, finding that you offer no resistance, he decides to take a little exercise, and starts off at a canter, keeping away from the wall most piously, avoiding the corners as if some Hector might be in ambuscade there to catch and tame him, and rushing on faster and faster, as you do nothing in particular to stop him.

“Lean to the right,” cries the master, and you obey, but the horse continues his canter, almost a gallop now, when suddenly your wits return to you, you draw back first the right hand and then the left, he begins to trot, and by some miracle you begin to rise, and continue to do it, you do not know exactly how, feeling a delight in it, an exhilarating, exultant sensation as if flying.  “Keep your right leg close to the saddle below the knee and turn your toes in!” You obey, and even remember to press your left knee to the saddle also and to keep your heel down.  “Don’t rise to the left!  Rise straight!  Your horse is circling to the right, and you must lean to the right to rise straight!  Take him into the corners so that he will move more on a straight line, and you can rise straight and be as much at ease as if on the road.  Whoa!  Now, don’t change your position, but look at yourself!  You did not shorten your reins when you began to trot, and, if your horse had stumbled, you could not have aided him to regain his balance.  Had you shortened them properly, you could, by sitting down, using your leg and whip lightly and turning your hands toward your body, have brought him down to a walk without hurling yourself forward against the pommel in that fashion.  Now, adjust yourself and your reins, and start forward once more,” and you obey, and are beginning to flatter yourself that your master does not know that your canter was accidental, when he warns you against allowing a horse to do anything unbidden.

“You should have stopped him at once,” he says.  “He will very likely try to repeat his little maneuver in a few minutes.  When he does, check him instantly, not by your voice, but as you have been directed.  And now, have you read Delsarte?  No?  If you have time, you might read a chapter or two with advantage, simply for the sake of learning that a principle underlies all attitudes.

“He divides the body into three parts; the head, torso, and legs, and he teaches that the first and third should act on the same line, while the second is in opposition to them.  For instance, if you be standing and looking toward the right, your weight should rest on your right leg and your torso should be turned to the left.  Neither turn should be exaggerated, but the two should be exactly proportioned, one to another.