LOSING £20,000 



to America and taking Fournier with me with the 

 intention of starting a big automobile business. We 

 sailed about the middle of August, taking with us 

 two big INIors racers, one of which cost me fifty-five 

 thousand francs. There were also three other cars, 

 one a small one, which had won the Paris-Bordeaux 

 run. At the time I possessed sixty-two thousand 

 pounds in ready money, in addition to the investments 

 I had made in real estate in America, so it was a serious 

 proposition this automobile idea. The plan was to 

 get a company together and I was prepared to invest 

 a great part of my own money. Altogether to begin 

 with there were fifty thousand dollars invested in cars, 

 which were to be used as models in starting the 

 factory. 



That trip was destined to be a disaster. In less 

 than a month I lost altogether about one hundred 

 thousand dollars or twenty thousand pounds. For a 

 commencement, there was forty-five per cent, duty 

 to be paid on the cars, and then Fournier w^as fined 

 heavily, a sum of seven thousand dollars (which I paid), 

 for undervaluating one of the cars with the customs. 

 They said that if one car cost fifty-five thousand francs 

 why didn't its fellow ? But the latter was sold to 

 Fournier at a big discount, because he had already 

 driven it. It actually cost only thirty-five thousand. 

 It was a good start-off. 



Then I went racing and managed to lose thirty-one 

 thousand dollars in one day, and I also lost a packet 

 at cards. 



The few horses at Maisons Laffitte had been left in 

 the charge of " Boots " Durnell, whose great idea was 

 that he could ride, whereas he couldn't. He was a 

 great man in the stable for all that. 



One evening I actually refused ten thousand dollars 



N 193 



