EMIGRATING 



had a brother in Sydney, too, a man who had gone out 

 there many years before and had well established him- 

 self. London had its attractions, but the spirit of 

 travel had already been aroused and I looked forward 

 with keenness to the long sea journey and seeing 

 a new continent. I daresay my father took into 

 consideration that I might settle down more seriously 

 in another country. He had a great opinion of my 

 capacity to make my way, but he was also quite alive 

 to the fact that quiet suburban evenings could not be 

 to my fancy for six days in the week. He knew a few 

 other things too : that my tastes were absurdly expen- 

 sive and that sooner or later he might be called upon 

 to pull out more than was desirable. Well, there we 

 were; it was decided that I was to go, and I could 

 see that Willie was not going to have his waistcoats 

 padded with bank-notes ; in fact, there were all sorts 

 of little things that I had a mind to take with me ; so 

 how to get a bit of stuff together was the main thing. 

 There was a meeting at Alexandra Park. I had 

 been there once before, on the day that Fred Archer 

 was disqualified for crossing and vowed that he would 

 never ride on the course again. I went with some money 

 sent by a cousin as a parting gift. I had kept enough 

 to get out of hock my pins and links, and buy three 

 pairs of boots, some smart spats, half-a-dozen new 

 scarves, at twelve shillings and sixpence a time — and 

 we knew, I can tell you, how to fold and tie them, and 

 would disdain any half-a-crown or three-and-sixpenny 

 touch in the way of cravats. It was rather a disaster 

 at Alexandra Park ; still, there was hope of putting it 

 all right at Croydon the following week. I happened to 

 call in at the Harrisons' in Bow Street the day before this 

 Croydon adventure. I had known all the family very 

 well for a long time ; partly through amateur thea- 



30 



I 



