THE SIX OF SPADES. 113 



have made the grasses green, and ere the suns of 

 May, opening the buttercups, have converted every 

 pasture into a Field of the Cloth of Gold. For 

 half-a-dozen seconds, when the groom has quietly 

 slipped over his nose the old " exercising bridle " 

 which he knows so well, he stands gazing in amaze- 

 ment and perplexity, astonished as the rustic who, 

 having formed his idea of cities from the occasional 

 contemplation of a small market-town in the distance, 

 sees for the first lime from gome commanding height 

 great London spread out before him. Hardly, at 

 first (I am referring to the horse), can he realize his 

 freedom, it seems to him too good to be true ; but 

 suddenly he apprehends the happiness of his state, 

 and with a wild winny of delight he is away at speed, 

 kicking as he goes, and giving ample demonstration 

 to eye and ear that he thoroughly appreciates his new 

 liberty. By-and-by he may condescend to a majestic 

 trot, coming towards you with head erect, lithe, 

 supple, elastic, " scarcely touching the ground, he's 

 so proud and elate," and exhibiting a dignity and 

 grace and power which you can see in no other 

 animal, and only in him when thus unusually excited. 

 After a while, perhaps, he may treat eye and nostril 

 to a sight and scent of the young tender herbage ; but 

 he is much too happy to eat. Were he less so, he 

 would hesitate where to begin, like the schoolboy 

 whom you treat at the confectioner's, and bid, 

 in Lear's words, " take all." But now he has 

 youth's gladness without its appetite, and he is 

 racing off again, head down and heels in the 

 air, as though about to rehearse a series of somer- 

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