-mate for Topsy. Please,
now."

To be sure Jerry grumbled some, but inside of a quarter of an hour he
had found Hawkins and paid the price; a price worthy of Sir Bardolph and
quite in keeping with Lochlynne reckonings.

"'E's been car sick an' show sick," said Hawkins warningly, "an' it'll
be a good two weeks afore 'e's in proper condition, sir; but you'll find
'im as neat a bit of 'oss flesh as you hever owned, sir."

Nor was Hawkins wrong. When the burrs were taken off and the effect of
the doses from the long-necked bottle had died out, Bonfire looked
anything but a ribbon-getter. Luckily Mr. Jerry had a coachman who knew
his business. Dan was his name, County Antrim his birthplace. He fed
Bonfire hot mixtures, he rubbed, he nursed, until he had coaxed the cold
out and had quieted the jangled nerves. Then, one crisp December
morning, Bonfire, once more in the pink of condition, was hooked up with
Topsy to the pole of a shining, rubber-tired brougham and taken around
to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Jerry.

"Oh, isn't he a beauty, Dan!" squealed Mrs. Jerry delightedly, as
Bonfire danced up to the curb. "Isn't he?"

Dan, trained to silence, touched his hat. Mrs. Jerry patted Bonfire's
rounded quarter, tried to rub his impatient nose and squandered on him a
bewildering variety of superlatives. Then she was handed to her seat,
the footman swung up beside Dan, the reins were slackened and away they
whirled toward the Park, stepping as if they were going over hurdles.

III

For three years Bonfire had been in leather and he had found the life
far different from the dull routine of coddling that he had known at the
Lochlynne Farm. There was little monotony about it, for the Jerrys were
no stay-at-homes. Of his oak-finished stable, with its sanded floors
and plaited straw stall-mats, Bonfire saw almost as little as did Mrs.
Jerry of her white and gold rooms on the Avenue.

In the morning it would be a trip down town, where Topsy and Bonfire
would wait before the big stores, watching the traffic and people, until
Mrs. Jerry reappeared. After luncheon they generally took her through
the Park or up and down the Avenue to teas and receptions. In the
evening they were often harnessed again to take Mr. and Mrs. Jerry to
dinner, theatre, or ball. Late at night they might be turned out to
fetch them home.

What long, cold waits they had, standing in line sometimes for hours,
stamping their hoofs and shivering under heav