12 ■ A Question of Bits 



we to judge her ? What about a mare that looks hke 

 jumpmg under those ch'cumstances, and won't jump ? ' 



' Her conformation is noteworthy for the points on 

 which Lord Fallowmere insists,' Starchley rejoins. 



' That chesnut animal of yours must look awfully 

 like jumping, Chippenham, for she jumps all over the 

 place when you don't want her to. She ought to be a 

 regular model of a jumper,' Oakley cheerily puts in. 



' Inconveniently like jumping, Mr. Chippenham, I 

 should fancy,' Lawford goes on, with intention. ' Happy 

 is the man who has the driving seat of a mail phaeton, 

 wliich does not jump, to fly to.' 



'My mare is rather young at it, but she promises 

 well when she isn't upset,' Chippenham quietly replied. 



' I should like to see a match between the pair of 

 them, Chippenham's and Lawford's, if I had nothing to 

 do for the next fortnight. In that time Lawford would 

 get three miles or so if he had luck and went just a bit 

 faster than he did to-day. I haven't seen enough of 

 Chippenham's, but your beast does look like a jumper, 

 Lawford,' Oakley said. 



' Yes, I don't remember to have seen one that looks 

 more like it,' Chippenham said, innocently enough ; but 

 the speech touched Lawford on the raw. If the horse 

 looked like jumping and did not jump, the inference — 

 whether intended or not — was that the fault lay with the 

 rider. Lawford, as already observed, fancied himself, 

 not without some sort of reason, and it was a very sore 

 point with him that he had been left at the fence over 

 which such a rider as that young man in the frock coat 

 had succeeded in crossing. His dinner had not done 

 him any good, and he was quite ready to differ from 

 anybody. If he could persuade Chippenham, of whom 



