ghbreds, and taught to see the difference between them and the
plebeian horse. But Frank, though no thoroughbred, eclipsed these
patricians when he came. He had a little head, and a neck gallantly
arched; he was black and plump and smooth, and though he carried himself
with a petted air, and was a dandy to the tips of his hooves, his
knowing eye was kindly. He turned it upon my friend with the effect of
understanding _his_ case at a glance.

It was in this way that for the rest of the long, lovely summer peace
was re-established in his heart. There was no question of buying or
selling Frank; there were associations that endeared him beyond money to
his owner; but my friend could take him without price. The situation had
its humiliation for a man who had been arrogantly trying to buy a horse,
but he submitted with grateful meekness, and with what grace Heaven
granted him; and Frank gayly entered upon the peculiar duties of his
position. His first duty was to upset all preconceived notions of the
advantage of youth in a horse. Frank was not merely not coming seven or
nine, but his age was an even number,--he was sixteen; and it was his
owner's theory, which Frank supported, that if a horse was well used he
was a good horse till twenty-five.

The truth is that Frank looked like a young horse; he was a dandy
without any of the ghastliness which attends the preservation of youth
in old beaux of another species. When my friend drove him in the
rehabilitated phaeton he felt that the turn-out was stylish, and he
learned to consult certain eccentricities of Frank's in the satisfaction
of his pride. One of these was a high reluctance to be passed on the
road. Frank was as lazy a horse--but lazy in a self-respectful, aesthetic
way--as ever was; yet if he heard a vehicle at no matter how great
distance behind him (and he always heard it before his driver), he
brightened with resolution and defiance, and struck out with speed that
made competition difficult. If my friend found that the horse behind was
likely to pass Frank, he made a merit of holding him in. If they met a
team, he lay back in his phaeton, and affected not to care to be going
faster than a walk, any way.

One of the things for which he chiefly prized Frank was his skill in
backing and turning. He is one of those men who become greatly perturbed
when required to back and turn a vehicle; he cannot tell (till too late)
whether he ought to pull the right rein in order