The Bantam
The little man who came so light-footedly on to the bus was a horseman. He had a flower in his buttonhole. His leggings were polished to reflect the sun. He was old-fashioned in a jacket of a rather high cut, and his bowler hat sat at exactly -the right angle. I was reminded of a great-uncle, one of the horse-doctors in the family. He too, had had that jauntiness, and had worn tight-legged suits of fine check. His boots had been invariably brown boots,.and his watch- chain had been adorned with little medallions. He had always worn a cravat and a gold pin, and his whole life had been taken up with horses, trotting ponies; cavalry mounts and even. Clydesdales. I thought of his lean, tanned face as my fellow-passenger reached his destination and hopped nimbly off the bus. In a field across the road a man was exercising a mare on a halter. I did not need to guess where the groom was soing. Across the road he went, as neat and proud as a bantam cock, and in two seconds be had climbed the gate and was lost to view, for he was not so tall as the hedge.
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