Hoof Beats 



that the jump out is peculiarly nasty, being soft 

 from where the brook overflows after a rain, and 

 down-hill with a two-foot drop for a landing. 



The Marquis seemed rather depressed those 

 early fall days, and would stand in the corner of 

 the fence, rubbing the side of his neck now and 

 then, or gnawing off the top of the rail and if no 

 one was there and the old brood mare in the next 

 field with her silly stiff -legged foal was looking the 

 other way, he would pick up the off foreleg that 

 pained him and trembled a little. Then he would 

 hold it a few inches off the ground, four or five 

 minutes at a time, though, of course, the Marquis 

 really never admitted even to himself that there 

 was anything the matter, and pretended to believe 

 that Fullerton was an ingrate, and Taylor the 

 "vet" an unconscionable, crooked quack. 



It had been warm during nearly all of October, 

 and the grass and the trees as green as they had 

 been the spring before, but as October passed and 

 November drew near, there came a chill into the 

 nights and the Marquis had begun to notice it — 

 the fresh crispness in the air, and the smell of the 

 early fall. He noticed the changed appearance of 

 the trees, the sudden splashes of red and gold on 

 the distant hills, and, whenever he got to thinking, 

 standing there hock deep in a carpet of crisp, dried 

 leaves, in the little gully beneath the old oak tree 

 14 



