he liked--in a while: already he was beginning to stir and
look about him--and there it was for him, quietly browsing
on the road-side.

So with a muttered execration I left the fellow to his fate,
and clapping spurs to my own horse, galloped away, excited
by a combination of feelings it would not be easy to analyse;
and perhaps, if I did so, the result would not be very creditable
to my disposition; for I am not sure that a species of exulta-
tion in what I had done was not one principal concomitant.

Shortly, however, the effervescence began to abate, and
not many minutes elapsed before I had turned and gone back
to look after the fate of my victim. It was no generous
impulse--no kind relentings that led me to this--nor even
the fear of what might be the consequences to myself, if I
finished my assault upon the squire by leaving him thus
neglected, and exposed to further injury; it was, simply, the
voice of conscience; and I took great credit to myself for
attending so promptly to its dictates--and judging the merit
of the deed by the sacrifice it cost, I was not far wrong.

Mr. Lawrence and his pony had both altered their
positions in some degree. The pony had wandered eight or
ten yards further away; and he had managed, somehow, to
remove himself from the middle of the road: I found him
seated in a recumbent position on the bank,--looking very
white and sickly still, and holding his cambric handkerchief
(now more red than white) to his head. It must have been
a powerful blow; but half the credit--or the blame of it
(which you please) must be attributed to the whip, which
was garnished with a massive horse's head of plated metal.
The grass, being sodden with rain, afforded the young
gentleman a rather inhospitable couch; his clothes were
considerably bemired; and his hat was rolling in the mud,
on the other side of the road. But his thoughts seemed
chiefly bent upon his pony, on which he was wistfully
gazing--half in helpless anxiety, and half in hopeless
abandonment to his fate.

I dismounted, however, and having fastened my own

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