Under the Red Robe by Stanley John Weyman
page 30 of 259 (11%)
page 30 of 259 (11%)
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here. At the horse fair at Fecamp my sorrel would be lost in the
crowd. Here in the south you will not meet his match in a long day's journey.' 'Do not make too sure of that,' the man replied, his eyes bright with triumph and the dram. 'What would you say if I showed you a better--in my own stable?' I saw that his words sent a kind of thrill through his other hearers, and that such of them as understood for two or three of them talked their PATOIS only--looked at him angrily; and in a twinkling I began to comprehend. But I affected dullness, and laughed in scorn. 'Seeing is believing,' I said. 'I doubt if you knows good horse when you see one, my friend.' 'Oh, don't I?' he said, winking. 'Indeed!' 'I doubt it,' I answered stubbornly. 'Then come with me, and I will show you one,' he retorted, discretion giving way to vain-glory. His wife and the others, I saw, looked at him dumbfounded; but, without paying any heed to them, he rose, took up a lanthorn, and, assuming an air of peculiar wisdom, opened the door. 'Come with me,' he continued. 'I don't know a good horse when I see one, don't I? I know a better than yours, at anyrate!' I should not have been surprised if the other men had interfered; |
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