Bad Hugh

It was strange Hugh did not improve faster, the old doctor thought.

There was something weighing on his mind, he said, something which kept

him awake, and the kind man set himself to divine the cause. Thinking at

last he had done so, he said to him one day, the last before the sale: "My boy, you don't get on for worrying about something. I don't pretend

to second sight, but I b'lieve I've got on the right track. It's my

pesky bill. I know it's big, for I've been here every day this going on

three months, but I'll cut it down to the last cent, see if I don't; and

if it's an object, I'll wait ten years, so chirk up a bit," and wringing

his hand, the well-meaning doctor hurried off, leaving Hugh alone with

his sad thoughts.

It was not so much the bill which troubled him--it was Rocket, and the

feeling sure that he should never own him again. Heretofore there had at

intervals been a faint hope in his heart that by some means he might

redeem him, but that was over now. The sale of Colonel Tiffton's effects

occurred upon the morrow, and money stood waiting for Rocket, while

Harney, with a fiendish, revengeful disposition, which was determined to

gain its point at last, had been heard to say that "rather than lose the

horse or let it pass back to its former owner, he believed he would give

a thousand dollars."

That settled it, Hugh had no thousand dollars; he had not even ten, and

with a moan of pain, he tried to shut out Rocket from his mind. And this

it was which kept him so nervous and restless, dreading yet longing for

the eventful day, and feeling glad when at last he could say-"To-morrow is the sale."

The next morning was cold and chilly, making Hugh shiver as he waited

for the footstep which he had learned to know so well. She had not come

to see him the previous night, and he waited for her anxiously now,

feeling sure that on this day of all others she would stay with him.

How, then, was he disappointed when at last she came to him, cloaked and

hooded as for a ride.

"Are you going out to-day again?" he asked, his tone that of a pleading

child.

"It does not seem right to leave you alone, I know," she said, "but poor

Ellen needs me sadly, and I promised to be there."

"At Mosside, with all those rough men, oh, Alice, don't go!" and Hugh

grasped the little hand.