56 GARRYOWEN 



and tearing up the sheet of notepaper on which he 

 had been making figures. He calculated that, 

 gathering together all his resources, he would have 

 enough to run the horse and back him for a 

 thousand. To do this he would have to perform 

 the most intricate evolutions in the borrowing 

 hne. It could be done, however, if Lewis were 

 left out of the calculation. 



The fifteen hundred owing to Lewis was a debt 

 which would have to be paid by the end of March, 

 and the City and Suburban is run in April. If it 

 were not paid then Lewis would seize Garryowen 

 with the rest of Mr French's goods, and that un- 

 fortunate gentleman would be stranded so high 

 and dry that he would never swim again. 



The one bright spot in his affairs was the fact 

 that Effie had two hundred and fifty a year, 

 settled on her so tightly by a prescient grandfather 

 that no art or artifice could unsettle it or fling it 

 into the melting-pot. 



This was French's pet grievance, and by a 

 man's pet grievance you may generally know him. 



Garryowen blew into his master's waistcoat, 

 allowed his ears to be stroked, nibbled a lump of 

 sugar, and repUed to some confidential remarks 

 of his owner by a subdued, flickering whinny. 

 Then Mr French barred the door, and, leaving the 

 stable-yard, came out into the kitchen garden, 

 from whence a good view could be had of the road. 



The adventure of the governess on the preceding 

 night had greatly tickled his fancy. The idea of a 



