ince Will died. Come off, I say,
lubber!"

But to come off, without being thrown off, was more easily said than
done. The horse was now plunging as if Juno had sent her gadfly to him;
and Philip, interested and excited, came nearer and nearer, till he
stood by the side of the horse-dealers. The other ostlers ran to the
help of their comrade, who at last, with white lips and shaking knees,
found himself on terra firma; while the horse, snorting hard, and
rubbing his head against the breast and arms of the ostler, who held him
tightly by the rein, seemed to ask, is his own way, "Are there any more
of you?"

A suspicion that the horse was an old acquaintance crossed Philip's
mind; he went up to him, and a white spot over the left eye confirmed
his doubts. It had been a foal reserved and reared for his own riding!
one that, in his prosperous days, had ate bread from his hand, and
followed him round the paddock like a dog; one that he had mounted in
sport, without saddle, when his father's back was turned; a friend,
in short, of the happy Lang syne;--nay, the very friend to whom he had
boasted his affection, when, standing with Arthur Beaufort under the
summer sky, the whole world seemed to him full of friends. He put his
hand on the horse's neck, and whispered, "Soho! So, Billy!" and the
horse turned sharp round with a quick joyous neigh.

"If you please, sir," said Philip, appealing to the liveryman, "I will
undertake to ride this horse, and take him over yon leaping-bar. Just
let me try him."

"There's a fine-spirited lad for you!" said the liveryman, much pleased
at the offer. "Now, gentlemen, did I not tell you that 'ere hanimal had
no vice if he was properly managed?"

The horse-dealers shook their heads.

"May I give him some bread first?" asked Philip; and the ostler was
despatched to the house. Meanwhile the animal evinced various signs
of pleasure and recognition, as Philip stroked and talked to him; and,
finally, when he ate the bread from the young man's hand, the whole yard
seemed in as much delight and surprise as if they had witnessed one of
Monsieur Van Amburgh's exploits.

And now, Philip, still caressing the horse, slowly and cautiously
mounted; the animal made one bound half-across the yard--a bound which
sent all the horse-dealers into a corner-and then went through his
paces, one after the other, with as much ease and calm as if he had been
broken in at Mr. Fozard's to carry a young lady. And wh