"Ankle indeed! Why should you ape your betters? Horses ain't

got any ankles: they're only pasterns. And so long as you
don't lift your feet better, but fall asleep between every step,

you'll run a good chance of laming all your ankles as you call them,
one after another. It's not your lively horse that comes to grief

in that way. I tell you I believe it wasn't much, and if it was,
it was your own fault. There! I've done. I'm going to sleep.

I'll try to think as well of you as I can. If you would but step out
a bit and run off a little of your fat!" Here Diamond began to double

up his knees; but Ruby spoke again, and, as young Diamond thought,
in a rather different tone.

"I say, Diamond, I can't bear to have an honest old horse like you
think of me like that. I will tell you the truth: it was my own

fault that I fell lame."
"I told you so," returned the other, tumbling against the partition

as he rolled over on his side to give his legs every possible
privilege in their narrow circumstances.

"I meant to do it, Diamond."
At the words, the old horse arose with a scramble like thunder,

shot his angry head and glaring eye over into Ruby's stall,
and said--

"Keep out of my way, you unworthywretch, or I'll bite you.
You a horse! Why did you do that?"

"Because I wanted to grow fat."
"You grease-tub! Oh! my teeth and tail! I thought you were a humbug!

Why did you want to get fat? There's no truth to be got out of you
but by cross-questioning. You ain't fit to be a horse."

"Because once I am fat, my nature is to keep fat for a long time;
and I didn't know when master might come home and want to see me."

"You conceited, good-for-nothing brute! You're only fit for the
knacker's yard. You wanted to look handsome, did you? Hold your tongue,

or I'll break my halter and be at you--with your handsome fat!"
"Never mind, Diamond. You're a good horse. You can't hurt me."

"Can't hurt you! Just let me once try."
"No, you can't."

"Why then?"
"Because I'm an angel."

"What's that?"
"Of course you don't know."

"Indeed I don't."
"I know you don't. An ignorant, rude old human horse, like you,

couldn't know it. But there's young Diamond listening to all
we're saying; and he knows well enough there are horses in heaven

for angels to ride upon, as well as other animals, lions and eagles
and bulls, in more important situations. The horses the angels ride,

must be angel-horses, else the angels couldn't ride upon them.
Well, I'm one of them."

"You ain't."
"Did you ever know a horse tell a lie?"

"Never before. But you've confessed to shamming lame."
"Nothing of the sort. It was necessary I should grow fat,

and necessary that good Joseph, your master, should grow lean.
I could have pretended to be lame, but that no horse, least of all an

angel-horse would do. So I must be lame, and so I sprained my ankle--
for the angel-horses have ankles--they don't talk horse-slang up there--

and it hurt me very much, I assure you, Diamond, though you mayn't
be good enough to be able to believe it."

Old Diamond made no reply. He had lain down again, and a sleepy snort,
very like a snore, revealed that, if he was not already asleep,

he was past understanding a word that Ruby was saying. When young
Diamond found this, he thought he might venture to take up the dropt

shuttlecock of the conversation.
"I'm good enough to believe it, Ruby," he said.

But Ruby never turned his head, or took any notice of him.
I suppose he did not understand more of English than just what

the coachman and stableman were in the habit of addressing
him with. Finding, however, that his companion made no reply,

he shot his head over the partition and looking down at him said--
"You just wait till to-morrow, and you'll see whether I'm speaking

the truth or not.--I declare the old horse is fast asleep!--
Diamond!--No I won't."

Ruby turned away, and began pulling at his hayrack in silence.
Diamond gave a shiver, and looking round saw that the door of the

stable was open. He began to feel as if he had been dreaming,
and after a glance about the stable to see if North Wind was

anywhere visible, he thought he had better go back to bed.
CHAPTER XXXIII

THE PROSPECT BRIGHTENS
THE next morning, Diamond's mother said to his father, "I'm not

quite comfortable about that child again."
"Which child, Martha?" asked Joseph. "You've got a choice now."

"Well, Diamond I mean. I'm afraid he's getting into his queer
ways again. He's been at his old trick of walking in his sleep.

I saw him run up the stair in the middle of the night."
"Didn't you go after him, wife?"

"Of course I did--and found him fast asleep in his bed. It's because
he's had so little meat for the last six weeks, I'm afraid."

"It may be that. I'm very sorry. But if it don't please God
to send us enough, what am I to do, wife?"

"You can't help it, I know, my dear good man," returned Martha.
"And after all I don't know. I don't see why he shouldn't get on

as well as the rest of us. There I'm nursing baby all this time,
and I get along pretty well. I'm sure, to hear the little man singing,

you wouldn't think there was much amiss with him."
For at that moment Diamond was singing like a lark in the clouds.

He had the new baby in his arms, while his mother was dressing herself.
Joseph was sitting at his breakfast--a little weak tea, dry bread,

and very dubious butter--which Nanny had set for him, and which he
was enjoying because he was hungry. He had groomed both horses,

and had got old Diamond harnessed ready to put to.
"Think of a fat angel, Dulcimer!" said Diamond.

The baby had not been christened yet, but Diamond, in reading
his Bible, had come upon the word dulcimer, and thought it so pretty

that ever after he called his sister Dulcimer!
"Think of a red, fat angel, Dulcimer!" he repeated; "for Ruby's

an angel of a horse, Dulcimer. He sprained his ankle and got fat
on purpose."

"What purpose, Diamond?" asked his father.
"Ah! that I can't tell. I suppose to look handsome when his

master comes," answered Diamond.--"What do you think, Dulcimer?
It must be for some good, for Ruby's an angel."

"I wish I were rid of him, anyhow," said his father; "for he weighs
heavy on my mind."

"No wonder, father: he's so fat," said Diamond. "But you needn't
be afraid, for everybody says he's in better condition than when you

had him."
"Yes, but he may be as thin as a tin horse before his owner comes.

It was too bad to leave him on my hands this way."
"Perhaps he couldn't help it," suggested Diamond. "I daresay he

has some good reason for it."
"So I should have said," returned his father, "if he had not driven

such a hard bargain with me at first."
"But we don't know what may come of it yet, husband," said his wife.

"Mr. Raymond may give a little to boot, seeing you've had more of
the bargain than you wanted or reckoned upon."

"I'm afraid not: he's a hard man," said Joseph, as he rose and went
to get his cab out.

Diamond resumed his singing. For some time he carolled snatches
of everything or anything; but at last it settled down into something

like what follows. I cannot tell where or how he got it.
Where did you come from, baby dear?

Out of the everywhere into here.
Where did you get your eyes so blue?

Out of the sky as I came through.
What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?

Some of the starry spikes left in.
Where did you get that little tear?

I found it waiting when I got here.
What makes your forehead so smooth and high?

A soft hand stroked it as I went by.
What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?

I saw something better than any one knows.
Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?

Three angels gave me at once a kiss.
Where did you get this pearly ear?

God spoke, and it came out to hear.
Where did you get those arms and hands?

Love made itself into hooks and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?

From the same box as the cherubs' wings.
How did they all just come to be you?

God thought about me, and so I grew.
But how did you come to us, you dear?

God thought about you, and so I am here.
"You never made that song, Diamond," said his mother.

"No, mother. I wish I had. No, I don't. That would be to take it
from somebody else. But it's mine for all that."

"What makes it yours?"
"I love it so."

"Does loving a thing make it yours?"
"I think so, mother--at least more than anything else can. If I didn't

love baby (which couldn't be, you know) she wouldn't be mine a bit.
But I do love baby, and baby is my very own Dulcimer."

"The baby's mine, Diamond."
"That makes her the more mine, mother."

"How do you make that out?"
"Because you're mine, mother."

"Is that because you love me?"
"Yes, just because. Love makes the only myness," said Diamond.

When his father came home to have his dinner, and change Diamond
for Ruby, they saw him look very sad, and he told them he had not

had a fare worth mentioning the whole morning.
"We shall all have to go to the workhouse, wife," he said.

"It would be better to go to the back of the north wind,"
said Diamond, dreamily, not intending to say it aloud.

"So
it would," answered his father. "But how are we to get there, Diamond?"

"We must wait till we're taken," returned Diamond.
Before his father could speak again, a knock came to the door,

and in walked Mr. Raymond with a smile on his face. Joseph got up
and received him respectfully, but not very cordially. Martha set

a chair for him, but he would not sit down.
"You are not very glad to see me," he said to Joseph. "You don't

want to part with the old horse."
"Indeed, sir, you are mistaken there. What with anxiety about him,

and bad luck, I've wished I were rid of him a thousand times.
It was only to be for three months, and here it's eight or nine."

"I'm sorry to hear such a statement," said Mr. Raymond. "Hasn't he
been of service to you?"

"Not much, not with his lameness"
"Ah!" said Mr. Raymond, hastily--"you've been laming him--have you?

That accounts for it. I see, I see."
"It wasn't my fault, and he's all right now. I don't know

how it happened, but"
"He did it on purpose," said Diamond. "He put his foot on a stone

just to twist his ankle."
"How do you know that, Diamond?" said his father, turning to him.

"I never said so, for I could not think how it came."
"I heard it--in the stable," answered Diamond.

"Let's have a look at him," said Mr. Raymond.
"If you'll step into the yard," said Joseph, "I'll bring him out."

• lively [´laivli] a.活泼的；热烈的 (初中英语单词)
• ignorant [´ignərənt] a.无知的，愚昧的 (初中英语单词)
• venture [´ventʃə] n.投机 v.冒险；敢于 (初中英语单词)
• companion [kəm´pæniən] n.同伴；同事；伴侣 (初中英语单词)
• shiver [´ʃivə] v.&n.(使)颤抖；碎片 (初中英语单词)
• stable [´steibəl] n.马棚 a.稳固的 (初中英语单词)
• visible [´vizəbəl] a.可见的；明显的 (初中英语单词)
• prospect [´prɔspekt, prəs´pekt] n.景色；境界 v.勘察 (初中英语单词)
• bargain [´bɑ:gin] n.买卖合同 v.议(价) (初中英语单词)
• sparkle [´spɑ:kəl] vi.闪耀；焕发 n.火花 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• forehead [´fɔrid] n.额，前部 (初中英语单词)
• darling [´dɑ:liŋ] n.爱人 a.亲爱的 (初中英语单词)
• anxiety [æŋ´zaiəti] n.挂念；渴望；焦虑的事 (初中英语单词)
• scramble [´skræmbəl] v.&n.爬；争夺；炒(蛋) (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• sleepy [´sli:pi] a.困的，想睡的 (高中英语单词)
• finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
• partition [pɑ:´tiʃən] n.分割；划分 (高中英语单词)
• repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
• loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
• mistaken [mis´teikən] mistake的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• unworthy [ʌn´wə:ði] a.不值得的；不足道的 (英语四级单词)
• wretch [retʃ] n.不幸的人；卑鄙的人 (英语四级单词)
• coachman [´kəutʃmən] n.赶马车人 (英语四级单词)
• starry [´stɑ:ri] a.星光照耀的，闪亮的 (英语四级单词)
• whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
• respectfully [ris´pektfuli] ad.恭敬地 (英语四级单词)
• cordially [´kɔ:djəli] ad.热诚地；亲切地 (英语四级单词)
• conceited [kən´si:tid] a.自负的；自夸的 (英语六级单词)
• halter [´hɔ:ltə] n.缰绳，绞索 (英语六级单词)
• dubious [´dju:biəs] a.怀疑的；可疑的 (英语六级单词)