THE DUKE CONTRADICTED 83 



publicly stated, and he replied that they wanted the 

 truth published or words to that effect. I toned down 

 the article, however, not a little, as I was driving to 

 Newbury, but as it appeared in the same issue of the 

 paper with the following letter from the Duke, I knew 

 there would be ructions : 



To the EDITOR of " THE SPORTSMAN " 



EATON, 2gth April 1892. 



SIR, Orme is better, but was nearly dead on Sunday 

 and Monday, and was only kept alive by injections of 

 milk and eggs. It is hoped that he may recover 

 sufficiently to meet his Derby engagement. I am 

 afraid there can be no doubt whatever that a very 

 virulent poison was administered to him, probably twice 

 on Thursday and Friday in last week. I remain, sir, 

 yours obediently, WESTMINSTER. 



Personally I paid no attention to the above letter, but 

 took an opportunity to see Loeffler at Newmarket, and 

 here follows what he told me : 



" The Sportsman," $th May 1892. 



" Would it surprise you to hear that the tooth which 

 I am supposed to have extracted is still in his head ? " 



The speaker was Professor Loeffler, the eminent 

 horse dentist, whom I was fortunate enough to meet 

 at Newmarket to-day. Needless to say that in this 

 business about Orme one has become so used to hearing 

 startling statements that the Professor's question did not 

 surprise me at all, and I simply asked him to explain 

 what he meant. 



" Well, I only took away a loose piece of the tooth ; 



