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About this horse thing, I played my cards wrong from the beginning. Since I was ashamed to admit I didn't know what Hellie and Mary were talking about most of the time, I pretended to be bored, which hardly took any pretending, and kept me from giving away my appalling ignorance. The sneezing helped here. It was a legitimate excuse for not talking, but after a while it got so bad I couldn't stand it. I went to see our company doctor. It was a brief conference.

"Hi, Doc," I said. "Every time my daughter comes anywhere near me, I sneeze."
He nodded, putting on those wise looks they get, and said, "Reverse Oedipus complex, eh? You're in love with your wife."
"Why not? She's a damned attractive woman."
"And so you resent your daughter because she comes between you. So you sneeze, unconsciously claiming your wife's attention."
"No, Doc," I said, "I sneeze because my daughter smells like a horse."
He cocked his head to one side. "Sure you're not imagining this? Any reason you know of why she should smell like a horse?"

"Sure, because she's covered with horsehair." I saw his eyebrows cock up. "Don't get me wrong, Doc. She gets it from horses and all the--stuff--she trails through the house. But what can I do about it?'

He grinned, wrote out a prescription for a hundred anti-histamine pills, and that was that.

When Helen's riding teacher has picked out a horse, Freddie decides he wants to see it himself, first, and asks his secretary to help him when he finds out that she is a horseman (though she runs barrels on Quarter Horses). He doesn't trust Wolfgang von Roetz, and it turns out, for good reason. They arrive at the stable where they are to see the horse. Suzie suggests she do the talking.

"Hi, I'm Sue Clemens."
The sun-scored face broke into a smile. "Well, the quarter-horse girl! Glad to meet you, Sue." They shook hands. "Saw you ride at Eastern States last September. You know"--he jerked a thumb toward the fancy stalls--"I don't suppose I should admit it, but I get a real kick from that stock horse stuff."
"Quarter-horse!"
"Pardon. Anyway, I get a real boot out of it. What in hell are you doing here? You and your barking boyfriend get lost or something? This is a hunter and jumper stable."
"It's this way, Tim. That horse Wolfgang has for sale here?"
"Which one? He's got three of 'em here right now."

So Wolfgang never sold any of his pupils a horse! No wonder Suzie wanted me to lurk in the background. The horse boys would accept her, the quarter-horse girl, and wouldn't try to kid her too far. I heard her say, "I'd like to see the one the Bolton kid has put down a deposit on."

"What's your interest in the deal, Sue?"
"Her father's my boss. He asked me to see if I thought it would be a good horse for his kid."
Riley scratched his head and looked up at the sky. He spoke quietly, as if talking to himself. "There's a three-hundred-dollar commission that says you think he's the right horse, Sue."
"I couldn't take it Tim, honest. Not in this case. If I did, I'd only turn it over to my boss."
"Oh, he's a good guy, eh?"
"Why, yes," said Sue after a little pause. "He's a wonderful guy -- I think."
Riley, who was about my age, smiled down on her in an amused way. I guessed he had kids of his own. "But you're not sure?"
"I--I haven't known him very long."
"Well, you know the old saying--walk softly and carry a long hatpin."
"But I never wear a hat."
"Then just watch your step. Your boyfriend here, what's his interest?"
"Oh, he's just interested in my car. You must've heard it come in."
"My ears are still ringing. Well, let's go look at the horse. Want to ride him?"
"After I look." She beckoned me forward. "Tim, this is Freddie. Freddie, Tim."
"Hi, Freddie. You like cars, eh?"
"And boats and fish."
"I get seasick."
"Well, when I get around horses I sneeze." I sneezed, and took another antihistamine.

"Fair enough," said Tim. Then: "Say, Freddie, er, this isn't supposed to be Wolf's horse. It's better for his business if folks think it's my horse. You know how things are. Okay?"
"Sure, I sure do know how things are. I'm a salesman. You have to use angles selling anything."
"What do you sell?"
"Advertising."
"Whereabouts? New York?"
"Yes, I work for the same folks Suzie does."
"Oh." He was thoughtful for a few steps. "You know her boss?"

I looked at Suzie, at the beautiful stables with the sleek heads thrust out at us as we went by stalls, looking for handouts. I was enjoying myself, but I knew I shouldn't be. Not in these surroundings.

"I've met him," I said. "See quite a lot of him, but I was just thinking, and I decided, no, I don't really know him at all."
"Mystery man?"
"You've got it."
"Here we are. Next stall," said Tim Riley.

Another head, chestnut, with a white diamond mark running down his face, peered at us. Even I could recognize that as horse's heads go this was a handsome one. Suzie started towards the stall door. The ears went back, and the big lips, black and padded like catcher's mitts, started to part.

"He's a little nippy with strangers," said Riley. "Don't get too near him, Freddie." The advice was superfluous. I didn't intend to get within 20 feet of him, but as Sue came near, the ears flattened and the upper lip rose, baring the biggest set of oat-choppers I ever saw.
"Watch it!" snapped Riley.
[...]
The blanket was off the horse now, and the rest of him looked just as handsome--and just as dangerous--as his head. I couldn't believe that Helen could possibly take care of such a creature herself. I had a quick vision of those huge savage teeth tearing her little arms, and I felt sick to my stomach. "Of course, I don't know about these things," I said. "But honestly now, that couldn't be a kid's horse, could it?"

"As a matter of fact, it could. He likes kids and he's all right with them. He was fine with the Bolton kid the other day, and although she rides real good--tops for the short time she's been at it--she sure hasn't been around horses in the stable much. That's something Wolf doesn't teach, and he ought to, for my dough. His kids look great in the show ring, but as horsemen? Pfui!"

"Take him out and hook tie ropes on him, will you, Tim? I want to vet him right." Suzie had walked toward the rear of the stall, her eyes going over the horse like an insect spray.
"Anything special you wanted to look at, Sue?"
"Yes, there is. Just from where I stand, I think four thousand dollars is a silly price to ask for a horse that's supposed to do a lot of jumping if he isn't sound in back."

"You thinking about the near hind leg, maybe?" She nodded. "What the hell," he said. "Of course, he goes sound enough right now, and the curb is only just starting, but Wolf ought to know that even if a guy's a real jerk if he's smart enough to be able to pay that kind of money for a horse he's smart enough to have some expert give it a going over."

He stared at the clean straw on the floor of the stall that, like the gravel of the courtyard, looked as though it had been polished blade by blade. From the expression on his face, I guessed he was having a struggle within himself. Presently he looked up.

"I hate to do this to Wolf. It's his pigeon, but then he's loused his own deal. How about going to the other barn and give a look-see at a horse of mine? He has papers, he comes from Canada, and he won the Junior Hunter Championship at the Royal in Toronto last year. He belonged to a kid who won the Equitation Championship on him, too. She traded this one with me for a three-day horse. The one I'm going to show you isn't trained in dressage."

It's worth hunting down.