"
"I do not understand you," said Polly. "Now, we heard of the shot
and iron--how you came by them and how, one night, you threw them
into the river at Hillsborough. That led, perhaps, to most of your
trouble. I'd like to know what moral law you were breaking when
you flung them into the river?"
"A great law," Trove answered; "but one hard to phrase."
"Suppose you try."
"The innocent shall have no fear," said he. "Until then I had kept
the commandment."
There was a little time of silence.
"If you watch a coward, you'll see a most unhappy creature." It
was Trove who spoke. "Darrel said once, 'A coward is the prey of
all evil and the mark of thunderbolts.'"
"I'll not admit you're a coward," were the words of Polly.
"Well," said he, rising, "I had fear of only one thing,--that I
should lose your love."
Reaching home next day, Trove found that Allen had sold Phyllis.
The mare had been shipped away.
"She brought a thousand dollars," said his foster father, "and I'll
divide the profit with you."
The young man was now able to pay his debt to Polly, but for the
first time he had a sense of guilt.
Trove bought another filly--a proud-stepping great-granddaughter of
old Justin Morgan.
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