The Regency by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Author:Cynthia Harrod-Eagles [Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780316914086
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company (Canada)
Published: 1995-05-31T23:00:00+00:00

*

It was almost ten o'clock when Nez Carré went off his legs. He had tried more and more often to lie down; now at last he gave a long groan, and went slowly down, like a great cathedral collapsing, while James tugged helplessly at his headstall, tears of anguish and frustration running down his cheeks.

‘No, oh no! Oh don't! Up, Nez Carré! Up, boy!’

But the horse was beyond obeying him, even though he wanted to. James dropped to his knees beside him, stroking the damp head, holding the great, troubled eyes with his own, his tears dropping onto Nez Carré's forehead. 'Oh please, Nez Carré,' he whimpered, stroking and stroking, 'please don't, please don't, oh please don't.’

Nez Carré tried to get up again, lifting his head and neck and straining, but the effort was too much for him, and he lay down again with a groan. James took the great, heavy head onto his lap. He cupped one long ear in his hand and put his mouth to it, licking his dry lips and tasting his tears salt on them. 'Don't die,' he whispered. 'Please don't die.’

He sat in the straw, stroking the face and neck and ears over and over, trying to pour his strength into the old horse, willing him to live. Time crawled on. At half-past ten, an ostler brought a lantern, driving the darkness which had crept in back to the corners of the box. Outside the sky was a luminous turquoise and the evening star shone low and pure; and inside, in the yellow lamplight, Nez Carré quivered, and died.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.