HOTEL INCIDENTS 



delivered and I was waiting for the cheque — the kernel 

 of the whole matter. To my amazement I heard 

 Hall, who has retired and goes racing now as a pastime, 

 had gone to London ! Looking at my watch I saw 

 the train went in six minutes ! I was just in time and 

 he wrote me out the cheque at the bookstall, but the 

 suspense whether I should " touch " that day was 

 agony. With the remaining cases I pushed on to 

 Manchester. The next morning another hundred 

 pounds was collected from a man for something I knew 

 he could do with, and I managed to get Charlie Payne 

 round in the afternoon with two of his men. Payne 

 began putting down one or two things with a sort of air 

 like the Laird in Trilby, " Je prong," but got tired 

 at the slow progress, and lighting a fresh cigar and 

 taking off his coat said : " What'll you take for the 

 whole lot, the roomful ? " I made a hasty calcula- 

 tion and mentioned a figure. We haggled for a 

 minute and then he pulled out a blank cheque, signed 

 it ; got some men up ; sent for a couple of drays and 

 absolutely cleared the show. He had a rare bargain, 

 but deserved it ; he always had the courage of his 

 opinions. He introduced me to a nice little club, 

 the Bohemian, which, if I remember rightly, after- 

 wards became the Garrick. That is where I first met 

 Tommy Edge ; he was attacking all those Land's 

 End to John o' Groats records at the time. He went 

 racing, of course. Now he is the owner of newspapers 

 and a big string of race-horses. A merry soul Tommy 

 Edge, a good fellow, a rare judge of a handicap 

 and will always listen to others : never posing as a 

 know-all. 



Business matters went on until through various 

 causes I got tired of leather and embarked in one or 

 two little schemes on my own, which brought in a bit. 



140 



