The Constable Cup. 137 



Crook was carried by that slow but safe conveyance, 

 the Duke ; and I rode Brown Duchess. Sunbeam and 

 Duchess were jades of the deepest dye. Harkaway had 

 been spoiled by bullying and ignorance. Hildegarde, 

 ■one of the lightly weighted ones, had a great chance, as 

 Mr. Anderson, her owner, and myself had tried her over 

 the steeplechase course with Brown Duchess a few days 

 before, and found her good enough to win. The Duke, 

 though sure, was very slow. War Eagle, though out 

 of sorts, was such a quick fencer, and his rider such an 

 undeniable man over a country, that the pair were 

 worthy of every respect from plungers. My mare was 

 so fit and well up to three o'clock in the afternoon of 

 the day before the race, that, as I looked at her in her 

 stall, I could not help stroking down her glossy brown 

 neck and telling her how I longed for the morrow to 

 show them the way. On my return to the stable in 

 the evening, I found that the poor animal had been 

 ■" nobbled." Some one had struck one of her fore-lesfs 

 a heavy blow just above the knee, rendering the limb 

 stiff and painful. I did not care for the pecuniary loss ; 

 for jC s. d. had not then the hard practical significance 

 they now bear to me. I was young and foolish enough 

 in those days to value success for the praise from one's 



