“But how could he get at her?” queried the Trainer. “The stable's been locked; an' Finn and Carter was sleepin' in the saddle room.”
“That divil could go where a sparrer could. How did he git in to cut th' bridle rein--t'rough a manure window no bigger'n your hat. He done that, as I know.”
“Well, if the mare's got it we're in the soup. Have you seen Miss Porter about, Mike?”
“I did a minute ago; I'll pass the word ye want to see her--here she comes now. I'll skip. Damn if I want to see them gray eyes when ye tell about the little mare. It'll just break her heart; that's what it'll do. An' maybe I wouldn't break the back av the devil as put up this dirty job. It isn't Shandy that's as much to blame as the blackguard that worked him.”
Dixon ran over in his mind many contorted ways of breaking the news to Allis, and finished up by blurting out: “The mare's coughin' this mornin', Miss; I hope it ain't nothin', but I'm afraid she's in for a sick spell.”
Coming to the course, the girl had allowed rosy hope to tint the gray gloom of the many defeats until she had worked herself into a happy mood. Lucretia's win would put everything right; even her father, relieved of financial worry, would improve. The bright morning seemed to whisper of victory; Lucretia would surely win. It was not within the laws of fate that they should go on forever and ever having bad luck. She had come to have a reassuring look at the grand little mare that was to turn the tide of all their evil fortune. The Trainer's words, “The mare's coughin',” struck a chill to her heart. She could not speak--the misery was too great--but stood dejectedly listening while Dixon spoke of his suspicions of foul play.
What villains there were in the world, the girl thought; for a man to lay them odds against their horse, knowing that she had been poisoned, was a hundred times worse than stealing the money from their Dockets.
“I don't suppose we'll ever be able to prove it,” declared Dixon, regretfully; “but that doesn't matter so much as the mare being done for; we're out of it now good and strong. If we'd known it two days ago we might a-saved the money, but we've burned up a thousand.”
“We'll have to start Lauzanne,” said Allis, taking a brave pull at herself, and speaking with decision.