VI x. 17 



pendulum which swung between offer and de- 

 mand finally rested at seventy-five dollars. 



She was brought to me at the Park on a 

 bright moonlight evening in June, and we were 

 called out to see her. I think she knew that 

 her harness days were over, and she danced off 

 to her new quarters as gay as a colt in train- 

 ing. That night my wakefulness would have 

 done credit to a boy of sixteen; and I was up 

 with the dawn, and bound for a ride ; but when 

 I examined poor Vix again in her stable, it 

 seemed almost cruel to think of using her at 

 all for a month. She was so thin, so worn, so 

 bruised, that I determined to give her a long 

 rest and good care, — only I must try her once, 

 just to get a leg over her for five minutes, and 

 then she should come back and be cared for 

 until really well. It was a weak thing to do, 

 and I confess it with all needful humiliation, 

 but I mounted her at once ; and, although I 

 had been a rider all my days, this was the first 

 time I had ever really ridden. For the first 

 time in my life I felt as though I had four 



