66 



" He was taking the horse to be shod, Sir, and 

 I suppose he would not stand quiet in shoeing." 



Now there were two httle circumstances that 

 made me suspicious of this explanation, inde- 

 pendently of the scar not appearing to he quite so 

 recent in date. "Yesterday week" chanced to be 

 on a Sunday ; so that there was little probability 

 of the horse having been at the blacksmith's to be 

 shod, at the time alleged ; and, about five minutes 

 previously, I had inquired of the ostler how long 

 the horse in the adjoining stall had been in the 

 stables. " He came from the country, from 

 Reading fair, along with the two next him, in the 

 middle of last week." 



I had no object in irritating my friend, the 

 dealer, by telling him he lied : he knew that well 

 enough, but it would have "hurt his conscience 

 to be found out." I was put on my guard, and 

 had the horse led out a second time for examina- 

 tion, when I discovered a blemish on each knee j 

 so slight that it had escaped my eye on my first 

 inspection, but still so unequivocal, that even the 

 dealer's impudence could not deny it. 



" That rascal of yours, Mr. Brown, must have 

 been a desperate fellow to maul the poor creature 

 over the knees as well as the head !" 



" Wei! ; I believe there was a little mishap 



