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A BIOGRAPHY
221
any other occupation they willingly admitted each
other’s superiority, but not in this.
Anyone who met Madame Kovalévsky in society that
winter would have imagined she was a very proficient
skater—one who might have carried off the prize in a
tournament with the greatest ease. She spoke of the
sport with great eagerness and interest, and was very
proud of the smallest progress she made, though she
had never shown any such vanity about the works
which had brought her world-wide renown.
Even in the riding-school she and her tall companion
might often be seen that winter, and it was evident
they took great interest in each other’s
accomplishments. The celebrated Madame Kovalévsky was
naturally much noticed wherever she made her appearance,
but no little school-girl coiüd have behaved more
childishly than she did at such riding or skating lessons.
Her taste for such sports was not supported by the
least facility for them. She was scarcely in the saddle,
for instance, when she was overcome with fear. She
would scream if her horse made the least unexpected
movement. She always begged for the quietest and
soberest animal in the stables. But she would
afterward explain why that day’s riding-lesson had been a
failure, alleging either that the horse had been fidgety
or wild, or that the saddle had been uncomfortable.
She never got beyond a ten-minutes’ trot, and if the
horse broke into a good pace, she would call to the
riding-master in broken Swedish, " Please, good man,
make the horse stop!"
She bore with great amiability all the teasing of her
friends on this account, but when she talked to other
people about the matter, they easily went off with the
idea that she was an accomplished horsewoman who
could boldly ride the wildest animal at a gallop. All
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