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Mars Jeems's Nightmare 69 

of us. I recognized in him a neighbor with whom I had exchanged formal calls. He was driving a horse, apparently a high-spirited creature, possessing, so far as I could see at a glance, the marks of good temper and good breeding ; the gentleman, I had heard it suggested, was slightly deficient in both. The horse was rearing and plunging, and the man was beating him furiously with a buggy-whip. When he saw us, he flushed a fiery red, and, as he passed, held the reins with one hand, at some risk to his safety, lifted his hat, and bowed somewhat constrainedly as the horse darted by us, still painting and snorting with fear. 

"He looks as though he were ashamed of himself," I observed. 

"I'm sure he ought be" examined my wife indignantly. "I think there is no worse sin and no more disgraceful thing than cruelty."