122 MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



ground at Ascot the year before, and he did not like 

 the risk of his running again, for he did not want a 

 broken-down horse. 



So the negotiations remained in suspense until the 

 Princess of Wales' Stakes was won by Ard Patrick in 

 a canter. Count Lehndorff was there, and meeting 

 me immediately after Ard Patrick had weighed in, he 

 said : " I am* satisfied. You can buy him for me, and 

 Mr Gubbins can run him for the Eclipse Stakes." 



He then went off back to Newmarket ; and I pro- 

 ceeded to close the transaction with Mr Gubbins. 



The sequel is a very strange story, for when I got 

 back to the Rutland Arms I proceeded at once to write 

 a letter to Count Lehndorff recapitulating the verbal 

 arrangement and asking for a confirmation of it. This 

 I sent to his room and was informed that he had gone 

 back to Germany, 



Still, it did not trouble me much, for the business was 

 very clear, and I wired and sent the letter on to him at 

 Graditz the following day, but no answer came, and 

 repeated wires elicited no reply before the day of the 

 Eclipse Stakes. 



Never did I go through a more horribly anxious time 

 than the hour before that Eclipse Stakes. I had got 

 Mr Gubbins to sign for the sale, and from Count 

 Lehndorff I had no " scrap of paper." 



I walked about in the paddock at Sandown, thinking 

 and thinking, but never breathed a word to a soul as to 

 what was my trouble. Then came the clear thought : 

 " Count Lehndorff has been before the world all these 

 years ; he has never to my knowledge done anything 

 wrong; he did tell me to buy Ard Patrick, and I'll 

 stand it out." 



