150 



ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



Westminster to speak to his signature on a bill for a 

 very large sum of money. Although he was released 

 from his liabihty for it, he could not hsten for an instant 

 to the apology of D'Orsay for calhng him, but he 

 demanded, in a tone which even Captain "White might 

 have envied, to know the cause why he was called out 

 of bed at so early an hour, and before he had had 

 his breakfast, and he never would look at him after- 

 wards. 



Lord St. Vincent never hedged a farthing of the 

 £11,000 to £1000 he took about Lord Clifden. Immedi- 

 ately after the victory John Jackson, who had laid the 

 wager, went up to his lordship and intimated that he 

 Avould pay liim there and then as he had the amount 

 on him. The tender was refused, his lordship expres- 

 sing a disinchnation to risk in his possession on a 

 crowded racecourse so much wealth, preferring the 

 arrangement to meet in the Subscription Rooms that 

 same evening. The appointment was not kept by the 

 nobleman. The following afternoon Jackson met Lord 

 St. Vincent in the paddock at Doncaster and, prevailing 

 upon him to accept the money, he handed over seven 

 £1000 notes, one of which his lordship made a present 

 of to John Osborne, the remainder of the sum being- 

 paid in smaller notes, one of them being for £300. Mr. 

 Rudston Read, who managed Lord St. Vincent's Turf 

 business, checked the notes with his patron and found 

 the sum exactly correct. The following day Lord St. 

 Vincent asserted that Jackson had paid him £300 short, 

 and he claimed that amount. Amazed at the demand, 

 Jackson in vain protested that the exact amount had 

 been handed over. He inquired if there was a £300 

 note amongst the notes Lord St. Vincent received, to 



