"He'll do it like a bird," he had said to
Greystock, and Greystock had followed him. Mr. MacFarlane's hired horse
did do it like a bird.
"I know him, sir," said Carstairs. "Mr. Nappie gave ?250 for him down in
Northamptonshire last February; bought him of Mr. Percival. You know Mr.
Percival, sir?" Frank knew neither Mr. Percival nor Mr. Nappie, and at
this moment cared nothing for either of them. To him, at this moment, Mr.
MacFarlane, of Buchanan Street, Glasgow, was the best friend he ever had.
Morgan, knowing well the horse he rode, dropped him into the brook,
floundered and half swam through the mud and water, and scrambled out
safely on the other side. "He wouldn't have jumped it with me, if I'd
asked him ever so," he said afterwards. Lucinda rode at it, straight as an
arrow, but her brute came to a dead balk, and, but that she sat well,
would have thrown her into the stream. Lord George let Lizzie take the
leap before he took it, knowing that, if there were misfortune, he might
so best render help. To Lizzie it seemed as though the river were the
blackest, and the deepest, and the broadest that ever ran. For a moment
her heart quailed; but it was but for a moment.
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