"It's about half a mile of this.
Then we come to my gate." And presently they did come to his gate, where the silver-edged willows came close on the one side and the wide hay meadows reached out on the other toward the curving pathway of the river.

He pulled up.
"Could you hold these horses, ma'am, fer a minute?
I got to open the gate." He handed her the reins, it never occurring to him that there was any one in the world who had never driven horses.

She was frightened, but resolved to appear brave and useful.
Sim Gage began to untwist the short club which bound the wire gate shut.

He pulled it back, and clucked to the horses, seeing that she did not start them.
Mary Warren knew nothing of horses.

It seemed to her that the correct thing to do was to drop the reins loosely, shaking them a little.