98 



THE HAUGHTY SHIRE HUNT. 



knew horses well, but he knew men even better, and this gift 

 was of invaluable aid to him in his deals. His favourite saying, 

 in the strict privacy of his family, and one which he always 

 strenuously impressed upon his son, whom he was striving to 

 bring up as great a genius as himself, was: "You deal in 

 horses, but you deal with men." 



To this worthy, enter Mr. Travers Algernon Binkie and 

 Mr. .Jack Dashwood. Sir Tommy had been suddenly sum- 

 moned to town, and the summons in question was one before 

 the .Judge at Chambers. This alone prevented his being 

 present to look after his own interests, if anything in the 

 nature of a commission were going. As he was physically 

 unable to imitate the example of Sir Boyle Ptoche's far-famed 

 bird, and be in two places at once, he had, /ante de mienx, to 



trust to Jack, "most unwillingly d — d unwillingly!" as 



he murmured to himself, when setting out on his unpleasant 

 mission to the great metropolis. " However," he reflected, 

 " at a dealer's there'll probably be nothing to get ; " and so he 

 resigned himself to his fate with a comparatively light heart. 



As they drove over in the high-wheeled dogcart, Jack said 

 confidentially to his friend — 



" Now, everybody knows you're a rich chap, and of course 

 a horse-dealer, above all people, will try to stick on the price. 

 Suppose you let me do the bargaining, Trousers, eh ? I shall 

 get whatever you want much cheaper than you will." 



And Travers consented gladly, little suspecting that he was 

 thus virtually increasing the price of whatever he bought 

 for the express benefit of Mr. Dashwood and Sir Thomas 

 Fitzsquander. 



Mr. Fobbs received them in his smartly gravelled yard, hat 



