How Hugh Paid His Debts

Then, changing his tone to one of defiance, he added: "Since you are not inclined to part with either of your pets, you'll
oblige me with the money, and before to-morrow night. You understand me,
I presume?"

"I do," and bowing haughtily, Hugh passed through the open door.

In a kind of desperation he mounted Rocket, and dashed out of town at a
speed which made more than one look after him, wondering what cause
there was for his headlong haste. A few miles from the city he slacked
his speed, and dismounting by a running brook, sat down to think. The
price offered for Lulu would set him free from every pressing debt, and
leave a large surplus, but not for a moment did he hesitate.

"I'd lead her out and shoot her through the heart, before I'd do that
thing," he said.

Then turning to the noble animal cropping the grass beside him, he wound
his arms around his neck, and tried to imagine how it would seem to know
the stall at home was empty, and his beautiful Rocket gone.

"If I could pawn him," he thought, just as the sound of wheels was
heard, and he saw old Colonel Tiffton driving down the turnpike.

Between the colonel and his daughter Ellen there had been a conversation
that very day touching the young man Hugh, in whom Ellen now felt a
growing interest. Seated in their handsome parlor, with her little hands
folded listlessly one above the other, Ellen was listening, while her
father told her mother.