The young man was Ezekiel
Pettengill. Shakespeare says,
"'Tis conscience that makes cowards of us all,"
and although Quincy at heart was a gentleman, he also knew it was not
quite right for him to take Miss Mason out riding again under the
circumstances; but young men are often stubborn and Quincy felt a little
stiff-necked and rebellious that morning.
He reached Eastborough Centre, mailed his father the letter relating to
Jim Sawyer, and going to the stable, picked out the best rig it could
supply. He always had the same horse. It was somewhat small in size, but
a very plump, white mare; she was a good roadster and it was never
necessary to touch her with the whip. Shake it in the stock and she
would not forget it for the next two miles. The stable keeper told with
much unction how two fellows hired her to go from Eastborough Centre to
Montrose. On their way home they had drunk quite freely at the latter
place, and thought they would touch the mare up with the whip; they were
in an open team and the result was that she left them at different
points along the road and reached home with no further impediment to her
career than the shafts and the front wheels.
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