14 STABLE SECRETS. 



opportunity of getting Himself up for so express an occasion, as 

 lie subsequently learned that " finishing your portrait," in the 

 idiom of George Spindles, signified an ideal sketch, and bore no 

 reference whatever to the limner's art. 



" Step in, and let's finish your portrait," reiterated George 

 Spindles, leading the way into what Puffy Doddles knew, at a 

 glance, to be the saddle-room of the Great Stable of the North. 

 Bridles, bits, girths, reins, saddles, surcingles, hoods, quarter- 

 cloths, breast-pieces, rollers, knee-caps, whips, and spurs, hung 

 in profusion around the walls, exhibiting, at the same time, the 

 perfection of neatness and order in their arrangement. Several 

 coloured prints of "horses saddling for the post," "horses going 

 to the post," " horses starting from the post," " horses winning 

 on the post," and other varieties of the same subject, in which 

 " horses and the post " formed the leading features in the several 

 designs, relieved the saddle-room from a general effect which, 

 otherwise, might have been monotonous in the extreme. A 

 small looking-glass suspended over the mantelshelf, upon the 

 surface of which the features of George Spindles were often 

 reflected, to the infinite gratification of their proprietor, might 

 also be classed among its decorative furniture. 



"You're turned out of right good hands," observed the 

 head lad of the Great Stable of the North, occupying a chair, 

 and stretching out his legs so that they rested only on the heels 

 of his boots ; " you're turned out of right good hands," repeated 

 he, as he once more " ran his eye over " Puffy Doddles. "I," 

 continued George Spindles, " was once under old Turnip-Tops." 



" Were you, indeed, sir ? " almost gasped Puffy Doddles 

 with astonishment. 



"Indeed I were," returned the head lad of the Great 

 Stable of the North. " It's many a long year ago," continued 

 he j " but I've had but two places — there and here." 



" And you riz to be what you are ! " remarked Puffy Doddles, 

 with profound admiration of the architect of such an ele- 

 vated position. . 



