“She’s here. She came last night.” The stallion didn’t raise his head from the box; he was much too busy eating.

A moment later Alec left the stallion barn. The broodmares, the weanlings and the new filly were waiting for him. His flashlight bobbed along as he cut across the field to the weanling barn. The filly had been put in the broodmare barn. He’d get to her, along with the mares, after feeding the weanlings.

Alec grinned as he thought of Henry and his filly. Two nights ago, right after Henry had bought her, he’d phoned from Kentucky. He’d sounded like a kid who had bought his first horse. Well, wasn’t that just about it? And the next day Henry had started for home, driving steadily for more than twenty-four hours before he and the filly had arrived last night. He’d been worn out and looked it. His eyes had been terribly bloodshot; his white hair had seemed even whiter. But his enthusiasm for the filly hadn’t been dampened by the long, arduous drive from Kentucky. He would have spent hours talking about her if Alec hadn’t made him go to bed in his apartment over the broodmare barn.

All Alec could remember about the filly was that she was small and didn’t seem to have any tail. But he could be mistaken. Soon he would know everything about her.

Reaching the weanling barn, he went through the same feeding and watering routine he had followed in the stallion barn. He hurried a little, for he knew that the broodmares were most likely nickering impatiently and might awaken Henry. His friend needed all the sleep he could get this morning.

Alec ran most of the quarter-mile which separated the two barns. When he had almost reached the broodmare barn, the lights went on; he knew Henry was up. Going inside, Alec found him pitching hay to the mares.

“Why didn’t you stay in bed?” Alec asked a little angrily. “You need more rest.”

“Couldn’t sleep any longer. Anyway, I don’t require much.”

Henry’s hair was tousled and his face crusted with sleep. He had taken time only to pull on his clothes before coming downstairs.

Alec said, “I’ll finish up the mares. Go see your filly.”

Henry grunted. “Okay,” he said, and hurried down the end corridor to the other side of the barn where they had put Black Minx.

After Alec had run fresh water for the mares, he gave them their hay and grain for the morning. A shrill neigh came from the filly. Henry would take care of her, all right; he would treat her like a princess. Already she had one of the largest stalls on the farm—a foaling stall—for Henry had insisted that she be given plenty of room to move about after her long trip.

Finishing with the mares, Alec joined Henry. He found him standing outside the filly’s stall door. As the two friends moved along together, Alec watched the Black’s first daughter. He noticed first that she wasn’t touching her feed.