CHAPTER VII 



EDWIN THORNE AND MAMBRINO CHIEF 



It was on the 4th of July, 1870, that my eyes first 

 rested on Thorndale. This grand place of 600 acres 

 in Dutchess County, N. Y., fourteen miles from 

 Poughkeepsie, had but recently passed into the pos- 

 session of Mr. Edwin Thorne, and he had filled the 

 stables, which formerly sheltered shorthorns, with 

 trotting horses of rich pedigree. 



I have before me a letter, dated August 18, 1884, 

 signed Edwin Thorne : 



" David Bonner has promised to pay me a visit 

 in company with Albert C. Hall and Alley Bonner. 

 Why can you not arrange it with them and come up 

 on Friday or Saturday of this week and remain over 

 Sunday with me. If they, one or all, can't come, 

 why will you not come solus? I can then give you 

 the facts you refer to in relation to Mambrino Chief, 

 and also show you James B. Clay's letters to me re- 

 ferring to him." 



The shade of the oaks and maples was grateful 

 and the murmur of the waterfall in front of the 

 mansion was soothing to excited nerves. Edwin 

 Thorne had an artistic eye, and in his picture gallery 

 were the works of such distinguished painters as Jules 

 Dupre, Rosa Bonheur, E. VanMarke, J. L. Gerome, 



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