Excerpt from The Adjustment That such orbits should cross seemed, as mentioned before, about as likely as that Saturn should engulf the gentle moon, or Mars fall upon Urania. Still it did happen and happened like this. Rudolph's immediate environment having become a little overheated from some indiscretion on his part, he decided it was a favourable Opportunity for him to carry out a wager with regard to cross-country riding which had been made some time previously. The ride was to last three days, and to be over ground that was familiar neither to Rudolph nor those concerned. The question of trespass was a negligible one to the rider, indeed the bet was concerned with the evasion of such questions, so on the last day of the ride, when Rudolph picked himself out of a deep hidden ditch that lay beyond a thickset hedge and proceeded with far more concern to pick out his damaged horse, the question that he had just ridden over some acres of growing wheat, and was now in a well-fenced field abutting on a small farm, did not trouble him in the least. He was troubled over his horse's sprained shoulder, and after a moment, also concerned by the numb helplessness of his left arm. He was making remarks to the horse as to what he thought of con cealed ditches like the one that had brought him to grief, when 'he became conscious that he was being scrutinised by a girl on horseback who had entered the field through a gate a few yards away. His hat was already removed by the fall, but he stood up straight and made her a little bow so prettily that the absence of his hat was hardly noticeable. Rudolph had very pretty manners, whatever else he lacked. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.