One night the bell rang hard and John came running to my box. Now, Beauty, he said, do your best. The mistress was very ill, and we had to fetch the doctor from town, eight miles away. The road was hard and the moon was up. I went as fast as I could go, and John never checked me once. We were there in less than two hours. The doctor's own horse was tired, so he rode me back, and he was heavier than John and did not know me. I was hot and shaking when we reached the hall. Little Joe Green, the new boy, rubbed my legs but gave me cold water and no blanket. In the night I shook with cold and could not breathe. I was very ill for weeks, and John sat up with me. Joe cried and said he had not known, and John said that ignorance is no excuse, but that the boy would learn.