TRIAL OF 'KILLIGREW 327 



third. From this I was certain the horse would have no 

 chance to beat Didcibella, knowing then more of her than 

 I had known a few weeks before, though, at the time, her 

 name was not mentioned in connection with the race. 



I think I never saw a man so ' cut up ' or so thoroughly 

 beaten as Bennett was after the trial. He hung down 

 his head like a carter's whip. He said it would be 

 impossible for him to meet his engagements if he could 

 not hedge his money, or did not win. But I did not 

 take this despairing view of the matter. 



' If you will only keep your own counsel,' I said, ' you 

 may do anything ; and I will do all I can to assist you 

 out of a difficulty, which, after all, may be more seeming 

 than real.' 



Bennett accounted for the defeat of his horse by 

 alleging that ' the pace was not fast enough.' But I 

 tried to convince him this was not so, as I pointed out 

 that his horse tired, and that ' the faster they went the 

 farther he must have been beaten.' But he still thought 

 or said otherwise, showing how true it is that 



' A man convinced against his will, 

 Is of the same opinion still.' 



As it turned out, fortunately, the trial had no pre- 

 judicial effect on the horse's position in the market, 

 showing that Bennett, true to his own cause, had kept 

 his own counsel, and that my boys also had held their 

 tongues but probably because, not knowing anything, 

 they had nothing to tell. When Didcibella was intro- 

 duced into the market, Bennett became alarmed, and ex- 

 pressed a hope that ' I would not drive his out of the 

 betting/ I assured him, as I had said before, that I 

 would do all I could for him ; and Killigrew remained a 

 good firm favourite to the finish, enabling him to hedge 



