“He is gentle, as a general thing,” said Philip; “but the fact is, I had a little race on the road, and that got his blood up.”
“Oh!” said Mr. Welford.
And then Philip took his leave.
“I am sorry he’s that kind of boy,” said the banker to himself, as he took up his papers again. “I hope Godfrey Berkeley will not stay away long.”
As Philip went to get his horse he found a man holding him by the bridle.
“Do you know,” said the man, “that there’s a fine of five dollars for tying a horse to a tree in this town?”
Philip’s heart went right down into his boots.
“No, sir,” he said; “I didn’t know it at all.”
“Well, there is,” said the other; “and, as I had to wait for a customer who’s going to meet me here, I untied the horse and held him. I thought I might save somebody five dollars, before a town constable came along. There’s only two of them, to be sure, but they’re as likely to be in one place as another.”
Phil’s heart came out of his boots with a bound.