CECIL DREW'S PURCHASE 



elephant. It was built on the site of an old inn called 

 the Greyhound, where William Jarvis, the trainer, 

 was born. However, I will not go into the history of 

 this, but tell the tale so far as it concerns me. 



Drew bought the place, paying a deposit next day. 

 He soon began to regret his bargain and, I believe, 

 tried to sell it, but I was unacquainted with him at 

 that period. From the time I first heard of the scheme 

 until an appointment was made for Drew to come to 

 my office several weeks elapsed. I found him a cheery 

 good fellow, and he told me that he wanted someone 

 to push the scheme along, draft all the rules and notices, 

 and generally take charge of the whole thing. I 

 told him that I would do it, but that " ready " on the 

 nail and certain terms with regard to members would 

 be part of the contract. He assented, and drew me a 

 cheque, and ahead we went. Afterwards I met Mr 

 Miller, a solicitor, who had bought the place and sold 

 it to Drew. A company was registered, a secretary 

 appointed, and the next thing was how to proceed. 

 I went down to Newmarket every week-end, and the 

 first time spent two whole days going over the entire 

 building. It had been my hotel for a good many 

 years during race weeks, and the drawbacks to it I was 

 well acquainted with. To begin with there was the 

 throbbing of an electric light engine, which by the way 

 j was always going wrong. There were plenty of rooms : 

 a theatre — used as a ball-room sometimes — a winter 

 ! garden, a splendid smoking-room, two or three private 

 sitting-rooms, and a fine dining-room with balcony. 

 There was only one thing to do : have the house 

 ] cleaned from top to bottom, painted and repapered ; 

 and another essential was to get the electric light supply 

 from the town. At one or two meetings of directors 

 all my proposals were agreed to. An application was 



Q 241 



