that "Whoa-Ho-sea!" came in rather pat; so Hosea he has remained.
He has quite a fast, stylish little trot, and I can square my
elbows and cock my head on one side as I did in the days of my
youth when the brief ownership of a tandem and a couple of
thoroughbreds would have landed me in the bankruptcy court, had it
not mercifully first landed me in the hospital.

The afternoon after Betty's visit, I took Hosea to Wellings Park.
The Fenimores shewed me a letter they had received from Oswald's
Colonel, full of praise of the gallant boy, and after discussing
it, which they did with brave eyes and voices, Sir Anthony said:--

"I want your advice, Duncan, on a matter that has been worrying us
both. Briefly it is this. When Oswald came of age I promised to
allow him a thousand a year till I should be wiped out and he
should come in. Now I'm only fifty-five and as strong as a horse.
I can reasonably expect to live, say, another twenty years. If
Oswald were alive I should owe him, in prospectu, twenty thousand
pounds. He has given his life for his country. His country,
therefore, is his heir, comes in for his assets, his twenty years'
allowance--"

"And the whole of your estate at your death?" I interposed.

"No. Not at all," said he. "At my death, it would have been his to
dispose of as he pleased. Up to my death, he would have had no
more claim to deal with it than you have. Look at things from my
point of view, and don't be idiotic. I am considering my debt to
Oswald, and therefore, logically, my debt to the country. It is
twenty thousand pounds. I'm going to pay it. The only question is