The Schooling of Charlotte
Story from Janus 6.02 by Patricia Webb. This is the all-time favourite story of John Jenkins from The Condign Blog , one of the inspirations for this blog . ‘Ride, prepare to trot. Trr-rot.’ Under the direction of Mary Radcliffe the class of six girls applied the aid and the horses trotted smoothly round the perimeter track of the large indoor riding school. Halfway down one long side they circled away leaving the top half of the school clear for a young girl exercising a dark bay thoroughbred. Mary Radcliffe, tall, dark and attractive and looking younger than her twenty-two years, was a hard taskmaster and no faults escaped her. As the ride circled her she schooled each girl until satisfied that horse and rider were working to the best of their ability. The six girls ranged in age from fifteen to eighteen and were pupils from nearby St Catherine’s School, to which Mary Radcliffe had been appointed riding instructress. ...