that this was exactly what he wished; and from that
day till his death, some fifteen years after, never did these two
friends allude to this little circumstance, and it was never repeated;
though it turned out that he had killed his two men previously. The
doctor must have, when he got him, said to himself, "if he is not stolen
there is a reason for his paltry price," and he would go over all the
possibilities. So that when he stood still, he would say, "Ah, this is
it;" but then he saw this at once, and lost no time, and did nothing.
Had he given the horse one dig with his spurs, or one cut with his whip,
or an impatient jerk with his bit, the case would have failed. When a
colt it had been brutally used, and being nervous, it lost its judgment,
poor thing, and lost its presence of mind.

One more instance of nearness of the {Nous}. A lady was in front of her
lawn with her children, when a mad dog made his appearance, pursued by
the peasants. What did she do? What would you have done? Shut your eyes
and think. She went straight to the dog, received its head in her thick
stuff gown, between her knees, and muffling it up, held it with all her
might till the men came up. No one was hurt. Of course, she fainted
after it was all right.

We all know (but why should we not know again?) the story of the Grecian
mother who saw her child sporting on the edge of the bridge. She knew
that a cry would startle it over into the raging stream--she came gently
near, and opening her bosom allured the little scapegrace.

I once saw a great surgeon, after settling a particular procedure as to
a life-and-death operation, as a general settles his order of battle. He
began his work, and at the second cut altered the entire conduct of the
operation. No one not in the secret could have told this: not a moment's
pause, not a quiver of the face, not a look of doubt. This is the same
master power in man, which makes the difference between Sir John Moore
and Sir John Cope.

Mrs. Major Robertson, a woman of slight make, great beauty, and
remarkable energy, courage, and sense (she told me the story herself),
on going up to her bedroom at night--there being no one in the house but
a servant girl, in the ground floor--saw a portion of a man's foot
projecting from under the bed. She gave no cry of alarm, but shut the
door as usual, set down her candle, and began as if to undress, when she
said aloud to herself, with an impatient tone and gesture, "