Etoict Bolti, 159 



discovered the fraud ; but, as a matter of fact, we 

 have seen very Httle of him in our parts since, for 

 the day after his new grey had been dehvered to 

 him, he wagered a cool hundred with a friend that 

 he had a horse in his stable which he would ride over 

 fifteen feet of open water in cold blood, and the 

 result was not eminently satisfactory to his vanity, for 

 it is a matter of history now how he never succeeded 

 even in getting the raw Irishman within fifteen feet 

 of the water, as well as that he left his hunting 

 quarters at Rosehampton the same eventful evening 

 never to return. How the assembled crowd did roar 

 at his futile endeavours to negotiate the leap — pretty 

 women and gallant men alike apparently enjoying 

 his discomfiture very considerably. 



He was no loss to the neighbourhood though, in 

 fact rather the contrary, as he never subscribed a 

 shilling to hounds, was rude and over-bearing in 

 manner, and only profuse in his expenditure upon 

 himself. 



Under the circumstances, therefore, although the 

 means were very far from being justified by the not 

 undesirable end, I fear that most of us looked a little 

 more leniently upon Mr. Scorer's sharp practice than 

 a proper sense of right should have dictated, when 

 one by one the facts of the case eked out later on as 

 I have endeavoured to record them here. 



