AT OSTEND ' 



The Ostend Meeting is one of the best conducted any- 

 where, and the sense of charging only five francs for 

 ladies and two francs for children should be appreciated 

 to the full. It makes a charming rendezvous for a 

 family, and the admirable idea of allowing young boys 

 and girls to be at what is quite a garden-party function 

 is far-seeing. 



It was at Ostend that Lord Torrington really began 

 systematic ownership, which led to his having a per- 

 manent string of horses in England after a stable in 

 Belgium. A little party of us — Torrington, Nicko 

 Wood, Bertie Hollender and myself — left London one 

 night for Ostend, where we were joined by the late Jack 

 Gouraud from Paris. It was some party. We went to 

 the Royal Palace, attended by one valet only, Nicko's 

 man, whom he hung on to, and the man hung on to Nicko 

 through all sorts of vicissitudes. The way he valeted 

 us all was a revelation. I am afraid that Jack Gouraud 

 had to come to the rescue of the majority of the party 

 before many hours were over, owing to the tables. I 

 didn't play. What a delightful friend he was, Jack 

 Gouraud ! I really cried when, at the Waldorf in the 

 early part of 1910, I heard of his death one evening. 

 What memories of days in Paris, at the Cafe de 

 Paris, the mention of his name brings up ! We used 

 to be all merry and bright in those days, and waited 

 on until the "ordinary" people went. Then the real 

 evening would begin, something much more entertain- 

 ing than anything ever provided in Montmartre. 



Jack never bustled himself ; he would wave to a 

 waiter to have the piano wheeled round to his table 

 and hardly turn his chair to begin playing and starting 

 the fun. Then everyone would do something. Ethel 

 Levey would sing — this was in 1909 I am speaking of 

 —Belle Ashlyn would do her bit, and Bertie Hollender 



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