Lady Gillian

Gillian arrives home and slides off the horse, feeling giddy. Her butler catches her and she hears a few unusual remarks from him as she faints. She wakes later in her bed, her maids fussing around. The butler walks in and says that the gentleman, Master Tate, sent a message asking how she was and explaining her accident. (Her horse will be looked after, its leg was not broken, and he hopes all her aches and bruises will be better soon) They all fuss around her and make her stay in bed and rest. As she aches and her head throbs she obeys, she can feel the bump on her head and the bruises. She sleeps at last, a proper sleep and wakes up in the very early hours, hot and restless.

Quietly slipping on an old dress, (no petticoats or corset) and quickly braiding her hair, Gillian slips down the back stairs. She walks to the stables then remembers her horse is not there, she hopes this borrowed one enjoys a wild gallop. As she approaches it, it neighs softly at her; she talks to it as she saddles it with a normal saddle, thinking how unfair it is that women must wear petticoats, corsets, and use side saddles. Jumping on, she guides it out quietly, when they have left the house behind; she urges it into a gallop. It seems to enjoy the wild gallop as much as she does, the freedom, and escape. Then she steers it to her favourite spot, the secluded, private spot, near the stream. Letting it rest, she sits near the water but she is still very hot. Pulling her dress off, she enters the water and swims around in the moonlight, feeling refreshed she pulls her dress on letting that dry her and lies down to think, her thoughts are so confused, but she falls asleep instead.

To be continued...