THE TKIAL RACE. 269 



and with ghastly pallor upon his countenance, " I 

 am a ruined man ! I am a ruined man ! What on 

 earth am I to do ? " " Whose fault, sir, is it ? " I 

 could not help replying. " Whom have you to 

 blame but yourself ? " Wringing his hands, and 

 in accents of despair which moved me to pity even 

 in the midst of my natural resentment, he kept on 

 talking to himself more than to me : " If I back 

 Surplice for large sums for the Derby, it will be 

 odds on him before I am half-way out of my 

 difficulties." After waiting a little until he had 

 partially recovered from his overpowering agita- 

 tion, I ventured to say to him, " Mr Villiers, the 

 Derby and St Leger have been won only once by 

 the same horse : if you back Surplice to win them 

 both, the bookmakers will lay you long odds, and 

 before four months have elapsed you can win as 

 much money as you like." 



This advice I have good reason to know that he 

 subsequently followed, and thus avoided the total 

 ruin which otherwise must have befallen him, 

 although he never had the generosity to acknow- 

 ledge it to me. When Robinson dismounted, he 

 remarked to me that it seemed to him almost 

 impossible to believe that Surplice was the same 

 horse that he had ridden three weeks before. This 

 memorable trial made me aware how much more 

 sensible and practical Lord George was in man- 

 aging a stud than his friend Mr Francis Villiers. 

 The latter indulged in fancies based upon his own 



