one next door who bites."

Just then a horse's head looked over from the stall beyond; the ears
were laid back, and the eye looked rather ill-tempered. This was a tall
chestnut mare, with a long handsome neck. She looked across to me and
said:

"So it is you who have turned me out of my box; it is a very strange
thing for a colt like you to come and turn a lady out of her own home."

"I beg your pardon," I said, "I have turned no one out; the man who
brought me put me here, and I had nothing to do with it; and as to my
being a colt, I am turned four years old and am a grown-up horse. I
never had words yet with horse or mare, and it is my wish to live at
peace."

"Well," she said, "we shall see. Of course, I do not want to have words
with a young thing like you." I said no more.

In the afternoon, when she went out, Merrylegs told me all about it.

"The thing is this," said Merrylegs. "Ginger has a bad habit of biting
and snapping; that is why they call her Ginger, and when she was in the
loose box she used to snap very much. One day she bit James in the arm
and made it bleed, and so Miss Flora and Miss Jessie, who are very fond
of me, were afraid to come into the stable. They used to bring me nice
things to eat, an apple or a carrot, or a piece of bread, but after
Ginger stood in that box they dared not come, and I missed them very
much. I hope they will now come again, if you do not bite or snap."