214 IRiMng IRccoUcctions ant) Hurt Stones 



or I don't think we should have got to the races in 

 time. As it was, he went upstairs and straightened 

 himself up, accepted my apology, and treated the 

 whole matter as a mistake, which it really was. 

 We started for Stockbridge in a large waggonette 

 with a pair of horses and postilions — quite in the old- 

 fashioned way. It was a lovely morning ; the past 

 had been forgotten, and we had had many a good 

 tale and a laugh. All at once Tom French, who 

 was sitting next me, and very fond of a joke, pre- 

 tending to speak in an undertone, said : 



"How well you did that this morning! The old 

 man thinks now it was a mistake." 



You should have seen Mr. Gosden's face. Of 

 course, I could not help laughing at the ridiculous 

 way in which Tom French was getting a scene up 

 for us. Mr. Gosden said to me in the most vicious 

 way possible : 



"You young scoundrel! I knew you did it on 

 purpose." 



It took him some time, even after French had 

 assured him that he was only joking, to make him 

 believe it. Many a good laugh we have had over this 

 since. When we used to go over to his place at Mid- 

 hurst on the Sunday after Goodwood, nothing he 

 could put on the table was good enough for one ; 



