tan.
Instead of trying to still his fears, he encouraged them, with that
superstitious impression which clings to us all, that if we expect evil
very strongly it is the less likely to come; and when he heard a horse
approaching at a trot, and saw a hat rising above a hedge beyond an
angle of the lane, he felt as if his conjuration had succeeded. But no
sooner did the horse come within sight, than his heart sank again. It
was not Wildfire; and in a few moments more he discerned that the rider
was not Dunstan, but Bryce, who pulled up to speak, with a face that
implied something disagreeable.

"Well, Mr. Godfrey, that's a lucky brother of yours, that Master
Dunsey, isn't he?"

"What do you mean?" said Godfrey, hastily.

"Why, hasn't he been home yet?" said Bryce.

"Home? no. What has happened? Be quick. What has he done with my
horse?"

"Ah, I thought it was yours, though he pretended you had parted with it
to him."

"Has he thrown him down and broken his knees?" said Godfrey, flushed
with exasperation.

"Worse than that," said Bryce. "You see, I'd made a bargain with him
to buy the horse for a hundred and twenty--a swinging price, but I
always liked the horse. And what does he do but go and stake him--fly
at a hedge with stakes in it, atop of a bank with a ditch before it.
The horse had been dead a pretty good while when he was found. So he
hasn't been home since, has he?"

"Home? no," said Godfrey, "and he'd better keep away. Confound me for
a fool! I might have known this would be the end of it."

"Well, to tell you the truth," said Bryce, "after I'd bargained for the
horse, it did come into my head that he might be riding and selling the
horse without your knowledge, for I didn't believe it was his own. I
knew Master Dunsey was up to his tricks sometimes. But where can he be
gone? He's never been seen at Batherley. He couldn't have been hurt,
for he must have walked off."

"Hurt?" said Godfrey, bitterly. "He'll never be hurt--he's made to
hurt other people."

"And so you _did_ give him leave to sell the horse, eh?" said Bryce.

"Yes; I wanted to part with the horse--he was always a little too hard
in the mouth for me," said Godfrey; his pride making him wince under
the idea that Bryce guessed the sale to be a matter of necessity. "I
was going to see after him--I thought some mischief had happened. I'll
go back now," he added, turning the horse's head, and wishing he could
get ri