He was
very proud of her, and thought as much of her comfort as his own. The
elder brother, however, saw fit to claim for himself, and several
times to exercise, a privilege of managing and using Black Nell,
notwithstanding what Frank consider'd his prerogative. On one of these
occasions a hot dispute arose, and, after much angry blood, it was
referr'd to the farmer for settlement. He decided in favor of Richard,
and added a harsh lecture to his other son. The farmer was really
unjust; and Wild Frank's face paled with rage and mortification. That
furious temper which he had never been taught to curb, now swell'd
like an overflowing torrent. With difficulty restraining the
exhibition of his passions, as soon as he got by himself he swore that
not another sun should roll by and find him under that roof. Late at
night he silently arose, and turning his back on what he thought an
inhospitable home, in mood in which the child should never leave the
parental roof, bent his steps toward the city.
It may well be imagined that alarm and grief pervaded the whole of
the family, on discovering Frank's departure. And as week after week
melted away and brought no tidings of him, his poor mother's heart
grew wearier and wearier. She spoke not much, but was evidently sick
in spirit. Nearly two years had claps'd when about a week before the
incidents at the commencement of this story, the farmer's family were
joyfully surprised by receiving a letter from the long absent son.
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