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Chapter twenty five A happy horse.For a good while. After I went
to Dingley Farm, I was veryshy of the horses, for I was
afraid they might kick me, thinkingthat I was a bad dog like Bruno.
However, they all had such goodfaces and looked at me so kindly
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that I was beginning to get overmy fear of them. Fleetfoot, mister
Harry's colt, was my favorite.In one afternoon, when mister Harry and
Miss Laura were going out to seehim, I followed them. Fleetfoot was
amusing himself by rolling over and overon the grass under a tree. But
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when he saw mister Harry, hegave a shrill whinny, and running to
him, began nosing about his pockets. Wait a bit, said mister Harry,
holding him by the fore laws.Let me introduce you to this young
lady, miss Laura Morris. Iwant you to make her a bow.
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He gave the colt some sign,and immediately he began to paull the ground
and shake his head. Mister Harrylaughed and went on, here is her
dog, Joe. I want youto like him to come here. Joe.
I was not at all afraid,for I knew mister Harry would not
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let him hurt me, so Istood in front of him and for the
first time had a good look athim. They called him the colt,
but he was really a full grownhorse and had already been put to work.
He was of a dark chestnut color, and had a well shaped body
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and a long, handsome head.And I never saw in the head of
a man or beast a more beautifulpair of eyes than that colt had large,
full brown eyes. They were that. He turned on me almost as
a person would. He looked meall over, as if to say,
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are you a good dog? Andwill you treat me kindly? Or are
you a bad one like Bruno?And will you chase me and snap at
my heels and worry me so thatI shall want to kick you. I
looked at him very earnestly, andwagged my body and lifted myself on my
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hind legs toward him. He seemedpleased and put down his nose to sniff
at me. And then we werefriends, friends, and such good friends.
For next to Jim and Billy,I have loved Fleetfoot. Mister Harry
pulled some lumps of sugar out ofhis pocket, and giving them to Miss
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Laura told her to put them onthe palm of her hand and hold it
out flat toward fleet Foot. Thecolt ate the sugar, and all the
time eyed her with his quiet,observing glanance. That made her exclaim,
what a wise looking colt. Heis like an old horse, said mister
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Harry. When he hears a suddennoise, he stops and looks all about
him to find an explanation. Hehas been well trained, said Miss Laura.
I have brought him up carefully,said mister Harry. Really, he
has been treated more like a dogthan a colt. He follows me about
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the farm and smells everything I handle, and seems to want to know the
reason of things. Your mother says, replied Miss Laura, that she found
you both asleep on the lawn oneday last summer, and the colt's head
was on your arm. Mister Harrysmiled and threw his arm over the colt's
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neck. We've been comrades, haven'twe, fleet Foot. I've been almost
ashamed of his devotion. He hasfollowed me to the village, and he
always wants to go fishing with me. He's four years old now, so
he ought to get over those coltishways. I've driven him a good deal.
We're going out in the buggy thisafternoon. Will you come Where are
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you going, asked Miss Laura.Just for a short drive back of the
river to collect some money for father. I'll be home long before tea time.
Yes, I should like to go, said Miss Laura. I will
go to the house and get myhat. Come home, fleet Foot,
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said mister Harry, and he ledthe way from the pasture, the colt
following behind me. I waited aboutthe veranda, and in a short time
mister Harry drove up to the frontdoor. The buggy was black and shining,
and Fleetfoot had on a silver mountedharness that made him look very fine.
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He stood gently, switching his longtail to keep the flies away,
and with his head turned to seewho was going to get into the buggy.
I stood by him, and assoon as he saw that Miss Laura
and mister Harry had seated themselves,he acted as if he wanted to be
off. Mister Harry spoke to him, and away he went. I racing
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down the lane by his side,so happy to thank you as my friend.
He liked having me beside him,and every few seconds put down his
head toward me. Animals can telleach other things without saying a word.
When Fleetfoot gave his head a littletoss in a certain way, I knew
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that he wanted to have a race. He had a beautiful even gate and
went very swiftly. Mister Harry keptspeaking to him to check him. You
don't like him to go too fast, do you, said Miss Laura.
No, he returned. I thinkwe could make a racer of him if
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we liked. But Father and Idon't go in for fast horses. There
is too much said about fast trottersand race horses. On some of the
farms around here. The people havegone mad on breathing fast horses. An
old farmer out in the country hada common cart horse that he suddenly found
out had great powers of speed andendurance. He sold him to a speculator
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for a big price, and ithas set everybody wild. If the people
who give all their time to itcan't raise fast horses, I don't see
how the farmers can. A fasthorse on a farm is a ruination to
the boys, for it starts themracing and betting. Father says he is
going to offer a prize for thefastest walker that can be bred in New
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Hampshire. That Dutchman of ours,heavy as he is, is a fair
walker, and Cleveland Pacer can eachwalk four and a half miles an hour.
Why do you lay such stress ontheir walking fast, ask Miss Laura,
Because so much of the farm workmust be done at a walk,
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plowing, teeming and drawing produce tothe market and going up and down hills.
Even for the cities, it isgood to have fast walkers. Trotting
on city pavements is very hard onthe dray horses. If they are allowed
to go at a quick walk,their legs will keep strong much longer.
It is shameful the way horses areused up in big cities. Our pavements
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are so bad that cab horses areused up in three years. In many
ways we are a great deal betteroff in this new country than the people
in Europe, but we are notin respect of cab horses. For in
London and Paris they last five years. I have seen horses drop down dead
in New York just from hard usage. Poor brutes. There is a better
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time coming for them, though,when electricity is more fully developed. We'll
see some wonderful changes. As itis. Last year, in different places,
about thirty thousand horses were released fromthose abominable horse cars by having electricity
introduced on the roads. Well,Fleetfoot, do you want another spin?
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All right, my boy? Goahead? Away we went again along a
bit of level road. Fleetfoot hadno check rein on his beautiful neck,
and when he trotted he could holdhis head in an easy natural position.
With his wonderful eyes and flowing maneand tail, and his glossy reddish brown
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body, I thought he was thehandsomest horse I had ever seen. He
loved to go fast, and whenmister Harry spoke to him to slow up
again, he tossed his head withimpatience, but he was too sweet tempered
to disobey. And all the yearsI have known Fleetfoot, I have never
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once seen him refused to do ashis master told him. You have forgotten
your whip, haven't you, Harry? I heard Miss Laura say, as
we jogged slowly along, and Iran by the buggy, panting, and
with my tongue hanging out, Inever used one saying, mister Harry,
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if I saw any man lay oneon fleet Foot, i'd knock him down.
His voice was so severe that Iglanced up into the buggy. He
looked just as he did the daythat he stretched Jenkins on the ground and
gave him a beating. I amso glad you don't, said miss Laura.
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You are like the Russians. Manyof them control their horses by their
voices and call them such pretty names. But you have to use a whip
for some horses, don't you,cousin Harry, Yes, Laura, there
are many vicious horses that can't becontrolled otherwise, And then with many horses,
one requires a whip in case ofnecessity for urging them forward. I
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suppose Fleetfoot never balks, saying MissLaura. Nope, replied mister Harry Dutchman
does sometimes, and we have twocures for him, both equally good.
We take up a fore foot andstrike his shoe two or three times with
a stone. The operation always interestshim greatly, and he usually starts.
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If he doesn't go for that,we passed a line around his forelegs at
the knee joint, then go infront of him and draw him the line.
Father won't let the men use awhip, unless they are driven to
it. Fleetfoot has had a happylife, hasn't he saying, Miss Laura,
looking admiringly at him, How didhe get to like you so much?
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Harry? I broke him in aftera fashion of my own. Father
gave him to me, and thefirst time I saw him on his feet,
I went up carefully and put myhands on him. His mother was
rather shy of me, for wehadn't had her long, and it made
him shy too, so I soonleft him. The next time I stroked
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him. The next time I putmy arm around him. Soon he acted
like a big dog. I couldlead him about a strap, and I
made a little halter and bridle forhim. I didn't see why I shouldn't
train him a little while he wasyoung and manageable. I think it is
cruel to let colts run till onehas to employ severity in mastering them.
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Of course, I did not lethim do much work. Colts are like
boys. A boy shouldn't do aman's work. But he had exercised every
day, and I trained him todraw a light cart behind him. I
used to do all kinds of thingsto accustom him to unusual sounds, father
talked a good deal to me aboutRary, the great horse tamer, and
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it put ideas into my head.He said. He once saw Rarey come
on stage in Boston with a timidhorse that he was going to accustom to.
Allowed noise. First a bugle wasblown, then some louder instrument,
and so on, so there wasa whole brass band going. Rarey reassured
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the animal, and it was notafraid. You like horses better than any
other animals, don't you, Harryasked Miss Laura. I believe I do,
though I am very fond of thatdog of yours. I think I
know more about horses than dogs.Have you noticed Scamp very much? Oh?
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Yes, I often watch her.She is such an amusing little creature.
She's the most interesting one we've got. That is after fleet Foot.
Father got her from a man whocouldn't manage her, and she came to
us with a legion of bad tricks. Father has taken solid comfort though in
breaking her of them. She ishis pet among our stock. I suppose
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you know that horses, more thanany other animals, are creatures of habit.
If they do a thing once,they will do it again. When
she came to us. She hada trick of biting at a person who
gave her oats. She would dothis without fail. So Father put a
little stick under his arm, andevery time she would bite, he would
give her a rap over the nose. She soon got tired of biting and
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gave it up. Sometimes now you'llsee her make a snap at father as
if she was going to bite,and then look under his arm to see
if the stick is there. Hecured some of her tricks in one way
and some in another. One badone she has was to start for the
stable the minute one of the traceswas unfastened. When we were unharnessing,
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she pulled Father over once, andanother time she ran the shaft of the
sulky clean through the barn door.The next time Father brought her in,
he got ready for her. Hetwisted the lines around his hands, and
the minute she began to bolt,he gave a tremendous jerk that pulled her
back upon her haunches and shouted whoa. It cured her, and she never
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started again till he gave her theword. Often now you'll see her throw
her head back when she is beingunhitched. He only did it once,
Yet she remembers if we'd had thetraining of Scamp, she'd be a very
different animal. It's nearly all inthe bring up of a colt, whether
it will turn out vicious or gentle. If anyone were to strike Fleetfoot,
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he would not know what it meant. He has been brought up differently from
Scamp. She was probably trained bysome brutal man who inspired her with distrust
of the human species. She neverbites an animal and seems attached to all
the other horses. She loves fleetFoot and Cleve and Pacer. Those three
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are her favorites. I love togo for drives with Cleveland Pacer, said
Miss Laura. They are so steadyand good. Uncle says they are the
most trusty horses he has. Hehas told me about the man you had
who said those two horses knew morethan most humans. That was Old David's
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saying, mister Harry, when wehad him. He was courting a widow
who lived over in Hoytville. Aboutonce a fortnight he'd ask her father for
one of the horses to go overand see her. He always stayed pretty
late, and on the way homehe'd tie the reins to the whipstock and
go to sleep and never wake uptill Cleve or Pacer, whichever one he
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happened to have, would draw upin the barnyard. They would pass any
rigs they happened to meet, andturn out a little for a man.
If David's wasn't asleep, he couldalways tell by the difference in their gait
which they were passing. They'd goquickly past a man, and much slower
with more of a turnout if itwas a team. But I dare say
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Father told you this. He hasa great stock of horse stories, and
I'm almost as bad. You willhave to cry halt when we bore you.
You never do, replied Miss Laura. I love to talk about the
animals. I think the best storyabout Cleve and Pacer is the one that
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Uncle told me last evening. Idon't think you were there. It was
about stealing the oats. Cleve andPacer never steal, said mister Harry.
Don't you mean Scamp, she's thethief. No, it was Pacer that
stole. He got out of hisbox, Uncle says, and found two
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bags of oats, and he tookone in his teeth and dropped it before
cleve and ate the other himself.And Uncle was so amused that he let
them eat a long time and stoodand watched them. That was a clever
trick, said mister Harry. Fathermust have forgotten to tell me. Those
two horses have been mates ever sinceI can remember, and I believe if
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they were separated, they'd pine awayand die. You have noticed how low
the partitions are between the boxes andthe horse table. Father says, you
wouldn't put a lot of people inseparate boxes in a room where they couldn't
see each other. And horses arejust as fond of company as we are.
Cleveland Pacer are always nosing each other. A horse has a long memory.
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Father has had horses recognize him thathe has been parted from for twenty
years. Speaking of their memories remindsme of another good story about Pacer that
I never heard till yesterday, andthat I would not talk about to any
one but you and mother. Fatherwouldn't write me about it, for he
will never put a line on paperwhere anyone's reputation is concerned. End of
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Chapter twenty five, A Happy HoleWorse. Chapter twenty six, The Box
of Money This story, said misterHarry, is about one of the hired
men we had last winter, whosename was Jacob's. He was a cunning
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fellow with a hang dog look anda great cleverness at stealing farm produce from
father on the sly and selling it. Father knew perfectly well what he was
doing and was wondering what would bethe best way to deal with him,
when one day something happened that broughtmatters to a climax. Father had to
go to Sudbury for farming tools,and took Pacer and the cutter. There
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are two ways of going there,one the Sudbury Road, and the other
the old post road, which islonger and seldom used. On this occasion,
Father took the post road. Thesnow wasn't deep, and he wanted
to inquire after an old man whohad been robbed and half frightened to death
a few days before. He wasa miserable old creature known as miser Gerald,
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and he lived alone with his daughter. He had saved a little money
that he kept in a box underhis bed. When Father got near the
place, he was astonished to seeby PACER's actions that he had been on
this road before and recently too.Father is so sharp about horses that they
never do a thing that he doesn'thatch meaning to, so he let the
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reins hang a little loose and kepthis eye on facer. The horse went
along the road, and, seeingFather didn't direct him, turned into the
lane leading to the house. Therewas an old red gate at the end
of it, and he stopped infront of it and waited for Father to
get out. Then he passed through, and instead of going up to the
house, turned around and stood withhis head toward the road. Father never
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said a word, but he wasdoing a lot of thinking. He went
into the house and found the oldman sitting over the fire, rubbing his
hands and half crying about the fewpoor dollars that he said he had stolen
from him. Father had never seenhim before, but he knew he had
the name of being half silly,and questioned him. As much as he
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liked, he could make nothing ofhim. The daughter said that they had
gone to bed at dark the nighther father was robbed. She slept upstairs
and he down below. About teno'clock she heard him scream, and running
down the stairs, she found himsitting up in bed and the window wide
open. He said a man hadsprung in upon him, stuffed the bedclothes
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into his mouth, and, dragginghis box from under the bed, had
made off with it. She ranto the door and looked out, but
there was no one to be seen. It was dark and snowing a little,
so no traces of footsteps were tobe perceived. In the morning,
Father found that the neighbors were droppingin to bear the old man company,
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so he drove on to Sudbury andthen returned home. When he got back,
he said Jacobs was hanging around thestable in a nervous kind of way,
and said he wanted to speak tohim. Father said, very good,
but put the horse in first.Jacob's unhitched, and Father sat on
one of the stable benches and watchedhim till he came lounging along with a
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straw in his mouth, and saidhe'd made up his mind to go west,
and he'd like to set off atonce. Father said, again,
very good, but first he hada little account to settle with him,
and he took out of his pocketa paper where he had jotted down,
as far as he could every quartof oats and every bag of grain and
every quarter of a dollar of marketmoney that Jacobs had defrauded him of.
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Father said, the fellow turned allthe colors of the rainbow, for he
thought he had covered up his trackso cleverly that he would never be found
out. Then Father said, sitdown, Jacobs, for I have got
to have a long talk with you. He had him there about an hour,
and when he finished, the fellowwas completely broken down. Father told
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him there were just two courses inlife for a young man to take,
and he had gotten on the wrongone. He was a young, smart
fellow, and if he turned aroundright now there was a chance for him.
If he didn't, there was nothingbut the state's prison ahead of him.
For he needn't think he was goingto go and cheat all the world
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and never be found out. Fathersaid he'd give him all the help in
his power if he had his wordthat he'd try to be an honest man.
Then he tore up the paper andsaid there was an end of his
indebtedness to him. Jacobs is onlya young fellow, twenty three or thereabout,
And father says he sobbed like ababy. Then, without looking at
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him, Father gave an account ofhis afternoon's drive, just as if he
was talking to himself. He saidthat Pacer, never to his knowledge,
had been on that road before,and yet he seemed perfectly familiar with it,
and that he stopped and turned alreadyto leave again quickly instead of going
up to the door, and howhe looked over his shoulder and started on
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a run down the lane the minuteFather's foot was in the cutter. Again.
In the course of his remarks,Father mentioned the fact that on Monday,
the evening that the robbery was committed, Jacobs had borrowed Pacer to go
to the junction, but had comein with the horse steaming and looking as
if he had been driven a muchlonger distance than that. Father said that
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when he got done, Jacobs hadsunk down all in a heap on the
stable floor with his hands over hisface. Father left him to have it
out with himself and went to thehouse. The next morning, Jacobs looked
the same as usual and went aboutwith the other men doing his work,
but saying nothing about going west.Late in the afternoon, a farmer going
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by held Father and asked if hehad heard the news Old miser Gerald's box
had been left on his doorstep sometimethrough the night, and he found it
in the morning. The money wasall there, but the old fellow was
so cute that he wouldn't tell anyonehow much it was. The neighbors had
persuaded him to bank it, andhe was coming to down the next morning
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with it, and that night someof them were going to help him mount
guard over it. Father told themen at milking time, and he said
Jacobs looked as unconscious as possible.However, from that day there was a
change in him. He never toldfather in so many words that he'd resolved
to be an honest man, buthis action spoke for him. He had
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been a kind of sullen, unwillingfellow, but now he turned handy and
obliging, and it was a realtrial to Father to part with him.
Miss Laura was intensely interested in thisstory. Where is he now, cousin
Harry? She asked eagerly what becameof him? Mister Harry laughed in such
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an amusement that I stared up athim, and even Fleetfoot turned his head
around to see what the joke was. We were going very slowly up a
long steep heel, and in theclear steel air. We could hear every
word spoken in the buggy. Thelast part of the story is the best,
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to my mind, said mister Harry. And as romantic as even a
girl could desire. The affair ofthe stolen box what's much talked about along
Sudberry Way, and miss Gerald gotto be considered quite a desirable young person
among some of the youth near there, though she is a frowsy headed creature
and not as neat in her personalattire as a young girl should be.
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Among her suitors was Jacobs. Hecut out, a blacksmith, and a
painter, and several young farmers.And father said he never in his life
had such a time to keep astraight face as when Jacobs came to him
this spring and said he was goingto marry old Miser Gerald's daughter. He
wanted to quit father's employ and hethanked him in a real manly way for
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the manner in which he'd always treatedhim well. Jacobs and mother says that
Father would sit and speculate about himas to whether he had fallen in love
with Eliza Gerald, or whether hewas determined to regain possession of the box
and was going to do it.Honestly, or whether he was sorry for
having frightened the old man into agreater degree of imbecility, and was marrying
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the girls so that he could takecare of him, or whether it was
something else, and so on andso on. He had a dozen theories,
and then mother says he would burstout laughing and say it was one
of the cutest tricks he had everheard of. In the end, Jacobs
got married, and father and motherwent to the wedding. Father gave the
bridegroom a yoke of oxen, andmother gave the bride a lot of household
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linen. And I believe they're ashappy as the day is long. Jacobs
makes his wife comb her hair,and he waits on the old man as
if he was his son. Andhe is improving the farm that was going
to rack and ruin. And Ihear he is going to build a new
house, Harry exclaim aimed Miss Laura. Can't you take me to see them?
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Yes? Indeed Mother often drives overto take them little things, and
we'll go too sometime. I'd liketo see Jacobs myself, now that he
is a decent fellow. Strange tosay, though, he hadn't the best
of character. No one has eversuspected him of the robbery, and he's
been cunning enough never to say aword about it. Father says, Jacobs
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is like all the rest of us. There's a mixture of good and evil
in him, and sometimes one predominatesand sometimes the other. But we must
get on and not talk here allday. Get up, fleet foot.
Where did you say we were going, asked Miss Laura, as we crossed
over the bridge to the river.A little way back here in the woods,
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he replied, there's an englishman ona small clearing that he calls Penhallow.
Father loaned him some money three yearsago, and he won't pay either
interest or principle. I think I'veheard of him, said Miss Laura.
Isn't he the man whom the boyscall Lord Chesterfield? The same one?
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He's a queer specimen of a man. Father has always stood up for him.
He has a great liking for theEnglish, he says. We ought
to be as ready to help anEnglishman as an American, for we spring
from common stock. Oh, notenglishmen only, said Miss Laura warmly.
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Chinamen and negroes, and everybody thereought to be a Brotherhood of Nations.
Harry, Yes, misenthusiasm, Isuppose there ought to be, And looking
up, I could see that misterHarry was gazing admiringly into his cousin's face.
Please tell me some more about theEnglishman, saying, Miss Laura,
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there isn't much to tell. Helives alone, only coming occasionally to the
village for supplies, and though heis poorer than poverty, he despises every
soul within a ten mile radius ofhim, and looks upon us as no
better than an order of thrifty,well trained lower animals. Why is that?
Asked Miss Laura in surprise. Heis a gentleman, Laura, and
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we are only common people. Myfather can't hand a lady in and out
of a carriage as Lord Chesterfield can, nor can he make so grand avow,
nor does he put on evening dressfor a late dinner. And we
never go to the opera, norto the theater, and know nothing of
polite society. Nor can we tellexactly whom our great great grandfather sprang from.
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I tell you there is a gulfbetween us and that Englishman, wider
than the one Young Courtissus leaped intoMiss Laura was laughing merrily. How funny
that sounds, Harry, So hedespises you. And she glanced at her
good looking cousin in his handsome,buggy and well kept horse, and then
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burst into another merry peal of laughter. Mister Harry laughed too. It does
seem absurd sometimes when I pass himjogging along to town in his rickety old
cart, and look at his pale, cruel face, and know that he
is a broken down gambler and aman of the world, and yet considers
himself infinitely superior to me. Hey, young men in the prime of life,
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with a good constitution and happy prospects. It makes me turn away to
hide a smile. By this timewe had left the river and the meadows
far behind us, and we werepassing through a thick wood. The road
was narrow and very broken, andFleetfoot was obliged to pick his way carefully.
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Why does the Englishman live in thisout of the way place if he
is so fond of city life,ask Miss Laura. I don't know,
said mister Harry. Father is afraidthat he has committed some misdeed and is
in hiding, but we say nothingabout it. We have not seen him
for some weeks, and to tellthe truth, this trip is as much
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to see what has become of himas to make a demand upon him for
the money. As he lives alone, he might lie there ill and no
one would know anything about it.The last time that we knew of his
coming to the village was to drawquite a sum of money from the bank,
and annoyed father, for he saidhe might take some of it to
pay his debts. I think hisrelatives in England supply him with funds.
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Here we are at the entrance tothe mention of Penhallow. I must get
out and open the gate that willadmit us to the winding avenue. We
had arrived in front of some barswhich trelayed across an opening into snake fence
that ran along one side of theroad. I sat down and looked about.
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It was strange, lonely place.The trees almost met overhead, and
it was very dim and quiet.The sun could only send little straggling beams
through the branches. There was amuddy pool of water before the bars that
mister Harry was letting down, andhe got his feet wet in it.
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Confound that Englishman he said, backingout of the water and wiping his boots
on the grass. He hasn't eventhe gumption enough to throw down a load
of stone. There. Drive in, Laura, and I'll put up the
bars. Fleet Foot took us throughthe opening, and then mister Harey jumped
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into the buggy and took up thereins again. We had to go very
slowly up a narrow rough road.The bushes scratched and scraped against the buggy,
and mister Harry looked very much annoyed. No man to himself, said
miss Laura softly. This man's carelessnessis giving you trouble. Why doesn't he
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cut these branches that overhang the road. He can't do it because his abominable
laziness won't let him, said misterHarry. I'd like to be behind him
for a week, and I'd makehim step a little faster. We have
arrived at last, thank goodness.There was a small grass clearing in the
(34:29):
midst of the woods. Chips andbits of wood were littered about, and
across the clearing was a roughly builthouse of unpainted boards. The front door
was propped open by a stick.Some of the panes of glass and the
windows were broken, and the wholehouse had a melancholy, dilapidated look.
(34:52):
I thought that I had never seensuch a sad looking place. It seems
as if there was no one about, said mister Harry, with a puzzled
face. Baron must be away.We will hold fleet foot Laura while I
go in and see. He drewthe buggy up near a small log building
(35:13):
that had evidently been used for astable, and I lay down beside it
and watched miss Laura. End ofChapter twenty six. The Box of Money