24G ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



their positions in the market, and George Frederick^ 

 after he had cantered on the Tuesday morning, became 

 an even worse one. And while the favourites were in 

 this doubtful plight, curiously enough nothing else was 

 in any better. The offers of the bookmakers were still 

 ' 10 to 1 bar 2,' and there was practically no third 

 favourite. Mr. Cartwright professed not to understand 

 it ; the two special correspondents who had been down 

 to interview George Frederick were ready to stake 

 their reputation on his being sound and well, and 

 Custance, who was to ride him, said he was delighted 

 with his mount. Surely here was an array of confidence 

 and talent that ought to have brought George Frederick 

 to 6 to 4 at least! But they did not. The more his- 

 owner professed, the worse favourite became his horse ; 

 the more the two zealous Specials, arcades amio, both 

 in print and in private life, staked their reputations, 

 etc., the more did the bookmakers lay. It was not 

 treating Mr. Cartwright or the Specials well or with 

 respect, we must say, but the fact was, whenever these 

 Turf instructors' names were mentioned, the bookmakers- 

 contemptuously sprung a point against the unfortu- 

 nate George Frederick, and said something about the 

 specials which we shall not sully our pages by 

 repeating. 



" So things went on all through the Tuesday. 

 People came back from the Town Moor and dined, 

 with a good deal of George Frederick on the brain, 

 but nothing transpired about him till late in the 

 evening, about an hour before the closing of the rooms, 

 when three members of the Jockey Club — who had 

 sought inspiration, it may be supposed, from some 

 unfailing oracle — made their appearance on the scene, 

 headed by Sir Frederick Johnstone, and that honour- 



