EXAMPLES OF COOLNESS 207 



through Mill Hill Square, where he happened to be 

 standing with his old friend George Armstrong, he said 

 to rne : 



' Well, lad, has she ' (meaning Dukibelld) ' passed the 

 college ?' laughing heartily all the while. 



1 What ?' I replied, thoroughly at a loss. 



'Why, the college of touts,' he said, and solved the 

 seeming mystery. 



When Dulcibella was at the Shoreditch station, on her 

 way to Newmarket, she was, before entering the horse- 

 box, seen by the ' clever division ' ; and in their own esti- 

 mation they are not a few. She was disliked, being too 

 small and far too light. Mr. Swindell was on the plat- 

 form waiting for the train ; and the division came to him 

 in a body, intending to take a ' rise ' out of him. 



1 Fred,' they said, ' we are in a raffle ; make one of us ?' 



' What's up ?' he replied suspiciously. 



1 Will you make one ?' was again asked. ' It's only a 

 pound a piece ten of us ?' 



' Oh yes,' he said. ' What's it for ?' 



' Dulcibella,' was the answer, with a roar of laughter at 

 Fred and the mare he had backed. But it did not turn 

 out either that the mare was to be had in a raffle, or that 

 the laughter was to be all on their side. 



I have mentioned his coolness, or self-possession, under 

 all circumstances. I was standing by his side at Lewes 

 one year in the betting-ring, when he kept offering to 

 back a horse that he knew could not win unless all the 

 rest tumbled down, with the intention of bolstering him 

 up in the market for an ulterior purpose. Immediately 

 they were off, he offered in a loud tone to take 200 

 to 100. 



' Done,' said a man in the stand above him. ' I will 

 lay you, Swindell.' 



