Visitors at Limber 



we did ourselves. And we treated her as she was, a sympa- 

 thetic companion, in no way inflicting upon us the ordinary 

 grandmotherly interference. 



To her Captain Machell would talk by the hour — of his 

 horses — his hopes and fears for them — of herself, and inciden- 

 tally, what she thought more of than anything, his admiration 

 for the character and the riding powers of her beloved grand- 

 son, Maunsell Richardson. And all this in the simplest manner 

 imaginable, as though he had no other thought or purpose at 

 the back of his mind than that of entertaining a very dear and 

 interesting old lady, and a disinterested desire for my brother's 

 success on the turf. 



And if the impression he had intended to create in the old 

 lady's mind was of his artlessness and general love of sport for 

 sport's sake, he certainly succeeded, for to the very last day of her 

 life Mrs. Maunsell remained quite convinced that the notorious 

 Captain Machell was the most sincere and guileless of men. To 

 me also he was the soul of courtesy and kindliness, and at our 

 meals (luckily I did not then know he was a noted "gourmet") 

 ate with sufficient appetite to satisfy me that at any rate the 

 fare we provided was to his liking. 



In many other ways, too, Captain Machell showed his 

 kindliness of disposition and courtesy. I well remember one 

 lovely morning in the early spring, during one of his flying 

 visits to us at Limber, when an important trial was on of the 

 horses then in training for the coming Grand National, and 

 Disturbance, Reugny, Furley, and another horse were to be 

 "ridden out" at certain weights, and the result to those in the 

 know would be satisfactory or otherwise. 



The trial, at which I was to be present, had been fixed for 

 the early morning before breakfast, and having kept my appoint- 

 ment made overnight with Captain Machell in the Hall, we 



81 G 



