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By right of inheritance, Richard’s muscles grew sinewy and hard, and speedily was he capable of handling a hammer and persuading iron to the full satisfaction of his teacher.  When it came to such heavy work as required power and skill at once, the difference between the two men was very evident:  where the whole strength is tasked, skill finds itself in the lurch; but Simon understood what could not be at once, as well as what would be at length.  Neither was he disappointed, for, in far less than half the time an ordinary apprentice would have taken, Richard could hold alternate swing with the blacksmith or his man, as, blow for blow, they pierced a block of metal to form the nave of a wheel.  In ringing a wheel, he soon excelled; and his grandfather’s smithy being the place for all kinds of blacksmith-work, Richard had learned the trade before he left.  For, as his fortnight’s holiday drew to an end, he heard from his parents that, as he was doing so well, they would like him to stay longer.

One reason for this their wish was, that he might become thoroughly attached to his grandfather:  they desired to secure the prejudice of the future baronet for his own people.  At the same time, by developing in him the workman, they thought to give him a better chance against further dishonouring and degrading his race, than his wretched father had ever had:  the breed of Lestranges must, they said, be searched back for generations to find an honest man in it.  A landlord above the selfishness, and free from the prejudices of his class, would be a new thing in the county-histories!

At the end of six weeks, Richard could shoe a sound horse as well as his grandfather himself.  The old man had taken pains he would not have spent on an ordinary apprentice:  it was worth doing, he said; and the return was great.  Richard had made, not merely wonderful, but wonderfully steady progress.  Not once had he touched the quick in driving those perfect nails through the rind of the marvellous hoof.  From the first he disapproved of the mode of shoeing in use, and was certain a better must one day be discovered—­one, namely, that would leave the natural motions of hoof and leg unimpeded; but in the meantime he shod as did other blacksmiths, and gave thorough satisfaction.

CHAPTER VIII.

A LOST SHOE.

It was now late in the autumn.  Several houses in the neighbourhood were full of visitors, and parties on horseback frequently passed the door of the smithy—­well known to not a few of the horses.

One evening, as the sun was going down red and large, with a gorgeous attendance of clouds, for the day had been wet but cleared in the afternoon, a small mounted company came pretty fast along the lane, which was deep in mud.  They were no sooner upon the hard road by the smithy, than one of the ladies discovered her mare had lost a hind shoe.

“She couldn’t have pulled it off in a more convenient spot!” said a handsome young fellow, as he dismounted and gave his horse to a groom.  “I’ll take you down, Bab!  Old Simon will have a shoe on Miss Brown in no time!”