MY ENGAGEMENT 



twelve hours before ! We must have passed each 

 other somewhere off the coast of Ireland. It is no 

 use reviving that memory, but there are times in one's 

 life when we can be in a state of what I would call the 

 hopelessness of despair. Talk about anything which 

 had occurred before in my life, the trouble about the 

 licence, losing thousands of pounds, in fact anything 

 which can be remembered : they were as nothing com- 

 pared with my feelings when I reached England and 

 found that she had gone. Still, the personal note in 

 connection with the girl who was gracious enough to 

 take my name can be dismissed. 



The following, which was published at the time, may 

 be interesting (it was just before our marriage) : — 



"JOCKEY HAS BEEN DEVOTED 



(( 



There's a pretty definite rumour in circulation that 

 names Julia Sanderson of the ' Fantana ' forces as 

 the prospective bride of J. Todhunter Sloan, the noted 

 jockey. And although Miss Sanderson has taken 

 occasion, in the way of mild rebuke, to receive the 

 story in the spirit of jest, the report, to use the well- 

 known phrase appropriate at such times, will not 

 down. 



"Until Sloan was summoned to New Orleans to re- 

 sume his seat in the saddle at Ed. Corrigan's City Park 

 race-track, he and Miss Sanderson had been observed 

 frequently in each other's company, and the diminutive 

 jockey played the gallant so devotedly that the report 

 of an engagement was the principal topic in the 

 ' Fantana ' company. 



" Just before Sloan started for the South, he and Miss 

 Sanderson occupied a box at a Sunday night concert 

 in a New York theatre. During the intermission 



231 



