"
"She's such an infernal brute!"
"You can't say too ill of her. But I fancy a gaol chaplain sometimes
takes the most interest in the worst villain under his charge. I
should be a proud man to make her fit to live with decent people."
"I'm afraid she'll be too much for you. At last you'll have to part
with her, I fear."
"If she had bitten you as often as she has me, sir, you wouldn't
part with her. Besides, it would be wrong to sell her. She would
only be worse with anyone else. But, indeed, though you will hardly
believe it, she is better than she was."
"Then what must she have been!"
"You may well say that, sir!"
"Here your mistress tells me you want my assistance in choosing
another horse."
"Yes, sir--to attend upon her in London."
"I don't profess to be knowing in horses: what made you think of
me?"
"I saw how you sat your own horse, sir, and I heard you say you
bought him out of a butterman's cart, and treated him like a human
being: that was enough for me, sir. I've long had the notion that
the beasts, poor things, have a half sleeping, half waking human
soul in them, and it was a great pleasure to hear you say something
of the same sort. 'That gentleman,' I said to myself, '--he and
I would understand one another.'"
"I am glad you think so," said Lenorme, with entire courtesy.
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