But when Dunstan's
meditation reached this point, the inclination to go on grew strong
and prevailed. He didn't want to give Godfrey that pleasure: he
preferred that Master Godfrey should be vexed. Moreover, Dunstan
enjoyed the self-important consciousness of having a horse to sell,
and the opportunity of driving a bargain, swaggering, and, possibly,
taking somebody in. He might have all the satisfaction attendant on
selling his brother's horse, and not the less have the further
satisfaction of setting Godfrey to borrow Marner's money. So he rode
on to cover.
Bryce and Keating were there, as Dunstan was quite sure they
would be- he was such a lucky fellow.
'Hey-day,' said Bryce, who had long had his eye on Wildfire,
'you're on your brother's horse today: how's that?'
'Oh, I've swopped with him,' said Dunstan, whose delight in
lying, grandly independent of utility, was not to be diminished by the
likelihood that his hearer would not believe him- 'Wildfire's mine
now.'
'What! has he swopped with you for that big-boned hack of yours?'
said Bryce, quite aware that he should get another lie in answer.
'Oh, there was a little account between us,' said Dunsey,
carelessly, 'and Wildfire made it even. I accommodated him by taking
the horse, though it was against my will, for I'd got an itch for a
mare o' Jortin's- as rare a bit o' blood as ever you threw your leg
across.
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