Middlemarch

Book III: Waiting for Death. Fred Vincy's debt of £160 to the horse-dealer Bambridge is now pressing. He had earlier asked Caleb Garth to co-sign the bill, and the term of payment is approaching. His uncle Featherstone's gift of £100 is far short of what is needed, and he has lost the £20 "seed-corn" at billiards. He determines to sell his broken-winded horse at Houndsley horse fair and use the proceeds to close the deficit. He rides to Houndsley with Bambridge — loud, robust, "given to indulgence chiefly in swearing, drinking, and beating his wife" — and with Horrock the vet, whose expression of "subdued unchangeable sceptical smile" and perfect silence on all professional questions gives him the reputation of an invincible understanding. Fred tries subtly to extract a genuine opinion of his horse's value from these experts without revealing he wants to sell it. He gets only Bambridge's cheerful denigration and Horrock's unreadable profile. Fred — reasoning that their criticism must mean they want the horse for themselves — takes their deprecation as evidence of its quality. That evening at the Red Lion a young farmer appears with a horse called Diamond, a dappled gray, which he wants to exchange for a useful hack, as he is about to marry and give up hunting. Fred sees his opportunity. He calculates that if he gives his old horse plus £30 for Diamond, and then sells Diamond to Lord Medlicote's man for £80 or more, he will be £55 ahead and need only a small shortfall from Garth. Bambridge runs Diamond down; Fred — who has learned to read such men in reverse — takes this as praise. He inspects Diamond first thing in the morning, confirms his judgment, and completes the trade: his broken-winded horse plus thirty pounds in exchange for the dappled gray. He starts home quietly, feeling tired but hopeful.