NEWMARKET 33 



Bookmakers with their clerks, trainers, an owner or two, and 

 members of the general public, but most of them " pro- 

 fessionals " of sorts, and the cause of their rush was " Table 

 d'hote 6 to 8 p.m." I did not wish to dine before 

 eight o'clock, and so I caught the head waiter in the 

 passage, and he promised to do his best for me. It was 

 almost 9 p.m. before he could find me a quiet corner, but the 

 state of that coffee-room after three hours' of table d'hote 

 was simply horrible, and although I insisted upon a window 

 being opened, it was almost impossible to get rid of the 

 smell of stale food. Then, though I had ordered dinner, 

 and had to pay beyond even the race tariff for what they 

 called a " special " dinner, really consisting of three very in- 

 different courses, they kept sending me up the remains of the 

 feast, in the shape of potatoes which had been cooked for 

 hours, and salad that looked as if it had been cut some 

 days before. To add to my discomfort, two or three large 

 and very noisy parties remained at the long table, and were 

 now smoking and arguing after the manner of this class of 

 race-goer. I remember that a member of one of these groups 

 approached us (I had a friend with me), flourishing a large 

 and very gaudy watch and chain, and solicited us to take 

 tickets in a raffle for the same. It belonged, he said, to 



" pore old Bob , and pore old Bob was down on 



his luck, and it was only proper that his old pals should 

 do him a turn." But we did not know the gentleman, we 

 protested, and if he had so many " pals," why appeal to 

 strangers ? 



The bright spot amidst the discomfort of this dinner was 

 the very strong evidence of what a generous man the average 

 turfite is. With regard to this particular watch and chain, 

 it afterwards came to our knowledge that the straitened 

 circumstances of "pore old Bob" had just been casually 

 mentioned at this dinner, and that afterwards, when one 

 well-known bookmaker had heard the state of the case, 

 he had instantly pulled off his own watch and chain and 

 sent a friend round the hotel with it. What is more, they 

 secured some five-and-twenty or thirty tickets at a pound 

 apiece, the watch was duly raffled, and the money sent 



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