174 HARK FORRARD! 



always been very proud of Radbrook, but tlie 

 fact of my being about to marry you made him 

 quite the proudest man in the world.' 



On the Friday before the Derby, Reginald 

 went down to Mollerton to see Fortitude do a 

 gallop, and to insure a true run race the trainer 

 had a real good one with twenty-one pounds 

 the best of the weights, to bring him along 

 the first mile, and a very speedy one to finish 

 the last half-mile. As it happened, there is at 

 Mollerton a mile and a half more like the 

 Derby course than perhaps any other that 

 exists throughout the length and breadth of 

 England. Fortitude ran a good horse, but was 

 beaten a couple of lengths at the finish, as the 

 last two hundred yards up hill told against him. 



' Just what I expected,' said the trainer. ^ If 

 we could only put the Derby off a fortnight, I 

 shouldn't fear any of them.' 



' Yes,' said Reginald, ' he is short of half a 

 dozen gallops, no doubt ; but I have got Bow- 

 man to ride him, as Lord Liskeard's horse is 

 scratched.' 



