I don't know what your
father would say if he heard you likening Mr. Donne to a brute."
"Brutes are sometimes very beautiful, mamma. I am sure I should
think it a compliment to be likened to a racehorse, such as the
one we saw. But the thing in which they are alike, is the sort of
repressed eagerness in both."
"Eager! Why, I should say there never was any one cooler than Mr.
Donne. Think of the trouble your papa has had this month past,
and then remember the slow way in which Mr. Donne moves when he
is going out to canvass, and the low, drawling voice in which he
questions the people who bring him intelligence. I can see your
papa standing by, ready to shake them to get out their news."
"But Mr. Donne's questions are always to the point, and force out
the grain without the chaff. And look at him, if any one tells
him ill news about the election! Have you never seen a dull red
light come into his eyes? That is like my race-horse. Her flesh
quivered all over, at certain sounds and noises which had some
meaning to her; but she stood quite still, pretty creature! Now,
Mr. Donne is just as eager as she was, though he may be too proud
to show it. Though he seems so gentle, I almost think he is very
headstrong in following out his own will."
"Well! don't call him like a horse again, for I am sure papa
would not like it. Do you know, I thought you were going to say
he was like little Leonard, when you asked me who he was like.
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