uineas, you may; if not . . ." "A
hundred guineas," said the surgeon, "my good friend, you must surely be
light-headed; allow me to feel your pulse," and he attempted to feel my
left wrist. "I am not light-headed," said I, "and I require no one to
feel my pulse; but I should be light-headed if I were to sell my horse
for less than I have demanded; but I have a curiosity to know what you
would be willing to offer." "Thirty pounds," said the surgeon, "is all I
can afford to give; and that is a great deal for a country surgeon to
offer for a horse." "Thirty pounds," said I, "why he cost me nearly
double that sum. To tell you the truth, I am afraid you want to take
advantage of my situation." "Not in the least, friend," said the
surgeon, "not in the least; I only wished to set your mind at rest about
your horse; but as you think he is worth more than I can afford to offer,
take him to Horncastle by all means; I will do my best to cure you in
time. Good-night, I will see you again on the morrow." Thereupon he
once more departed with the master of the house. "A sharp one," I heard
him say, with a laugh, as the door closed upon him.

Left to myself, I again essayed to compose myself to rest, but for some
time in vain. I had been terribly shaken by my fall, and had
subsequently, owing to the incision of the surgeon's lancet, been
deprived of much of the vital fluid; it is when the body is in such a
state that the merest trifles affect and agitate the mind; no wonder,
then, that the return of the surgeon and the master of the house for the
purpose of inquiring whether I would sell my horse struck me as being
highly extraordinary, considering the hour of the night, and the
situation in which they knew me to be. What could they mean by such
conduct--did they wish to cheat me of the animal? "Well, well," said I,
"if they did, what matters, they found their match; yes, yes," said I,
"but I am in their power, perhaps"--but I instantly dismissed the
apprehension which came into my mind with a pooh, nonsense! In a little
time, however, a far more foolish and chimerical idea began to disturb
me--the idea of being flung from my horse; was I not disgraced for ever
as a horseman by being flung from my horse? Assuredly, I thought; and
the idea of being disgraced as a horseman, operating on my nervous
system, caused me very acute misery. "After all," said I to myself, "it
was perhaps the contemptible opinion which the surgeon m