A show of cab-horses and costermongers' donkeys was being held in
Nottingham, when Mr. Russell called the attention of the Duchess to an
old rag-and-bone dealer, who had won no prize, but who was known to
treat his donkey humanely.
"What shall I give him?" asked the Duchess.
"Half a sovereign will be enough, I should think," replied the
clergyman.
She then handed the money to the man, but she had to borrow it though,
"and," added Mr. Russell, "I do not know whether she ever paid it back
but the result was the same."
When in Scotland once she found that a man with a cart-load of herrings
had been using a piece of barbed wire to flog his horse with.
He was taxed with the barbarity, but denied it.
The Duchess thereupon walked back and found the wire. She and the Duke
then bought up the horse, cart, harness, and herrings, rejecting the
only worthless part of the lot--the man.
Sandy's greed and Sandy's conscience were most likely on a par in their
flinty qualities, and the dour Scot would be glad to bargain with the
Duchess again on similar terms, eliminating the factor of
humanitarianism.
Pages:
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125