ow and
trotted soberly out of the ring, in the midst of a great shout of
applause.

"How did Parson Lorrimer feel? Of all that amused and wondering crowd,
not one was more taken by surprise than he--both at this exhibition of
Peter's accomplishments and at the tale it told of his early days; for
it was impossible to doubt that at some time in his life he had been a
trained horse in a circus. From the field near by he had recognized the
familiar strains that used to call him to his task, and had leaped the
fence and made his way to where the crowd was gathered, to play his
pretty part on the village green, before the sober citizens of
Centerville and Hilltown, as he had played it hundreds of times before,
under the canvas, to the motley crowd drawn together by the attractions
of the ring.

"Of course the minister felt sorry and ashamed when he learned, in this
public way, of the low company Peter had kept in his youth. Whenever a
traveling circus had stopped at Winterport, Parson Lorrimer had not
failed to warn his young people from the pulpit to keep their feet from
straying to this place of sinful amusement. But mingled with his
chagrin, I think he must have felt a little pride in the ownership of
the beautiful creature, so intelligent to remember, and so supple of
limb to perform, the unaccustomed task.

"He took pains to narrate more fully than he had thought necessary
before, how he had come in possession of the animal. He had gone, he
said, on business to Winterport, and on the wharf, early one morning,
had met a man in the dress of a sailor leading the white horse. In
answer to inquiries, the stranger said he had taken the horse In payment
of a debt, and was about to ship him on board a trading-vessel then
lying in the dock, bound to the East Indies. Would he sell, the minister
asked, on this side of the water? Yes, if he could get his price. While
they talked, Parson Lorrimer caressed the horse, who responded in so
friendly a way that the minister, who had lost his heart at first sight
to the beautiful creature, then and there made the purchase, waiting
only till the banks were open to pay over the money. He had asked few
questions; had known, he said, by Peter's eyes that he was kind, and by
certain unmistakable marks about him that he came of good stock. Of the
stranger, he had seen nothing from that day, and could not even remember
his name.

"'I always knew,' Jonathan Goslee said, 'that the critter had t