AN OFF CHANCE. 195 



the sea, showed that a race meeting was on 

 somewhere in the neighbourhood. It was, in 

 fact, the Southdown Meeting, the last of the 

 three which make up the Downshire fortnight. 



The three occupants of the room for whom 

 the breakfast was spread had done different 

 justice — or injustice — to it. Wynnerly, the ac- 

 comphshed gentleman rider, had not dared do 

 more than munch half a dozen prawns and a 

 scrap of dry toast, for he had to ride 10 st. 7 lb. 

 in the course of the day, and feared putting on 

 weight ; so he was consoling himself with a 

 cigarette, and gazing out of the window. Sir 

 Henry Atherton was busy with the Standard; 

 for, though fond of racing, and the owner of 

 some smart performers, whose wins he appre- 

 ciated the more as for the most part he bred 

 his own horses and delighted in the vindication 

 of his judgment, he was also a landlord and a 

 politician, and it behoved him to see what was 

 happening at home and abroad. The third 

 personage was young Flutterton, who was 

 gradually buying experience at a somewhat 

 expensive rate. He had taken Atherton's word 

 for the excellence of the creamy ham and fresh 

 eggs, and was deeply intent in a Httle silver- 

 bound volume, ruled and figured on its pages in 

 an unmistakable way — his betting-book, in fact. 



