Phyllis axd Ophelia 35 



Dobbin, if only he could be persuaded to let his mount 

 alone, a lesson which Mr. Sharpe used his best efforts to 

 enforce. 



The course at Aldersham is not a good one for 

 spectators. To see all the way round it is necessary to 

 run backwards and forwards, in the midst of a crowd, to 

 say nothing of chairs and seats, up and down the top of 

 a hill ; and Sharpe lingered in the ring when the horses 

 had gone down to the post, to have a few last bets, and to 

 give those he knew a hint to lay against the favourite. He 

 did not, therefore, see the start, nor observe how^ one man 

 tumbled off at the drop-fence, how two men came to grief 

 with their horses at the open ditch, how one was shot over 

 his horse's head into the brook, and another ran out, 

 leaving only six competitors in the race. A rider in a 

 white jacket was a hundred and fifty yards ahead, when 

 he, too, toppled over a fence, and Dobbin was left with the 

 lead ; for Sharpe had told his rider not to keep too far 

 behind the others, but not to be flurried if one or two 

 got a long way in front in the first mile and a half, as they 

 would probably begin to come back before the second of 

 the three miles was finished. 



Dobbin was going well enough. What much sur- 

 prised Sharpe, when presently he fixed his glasses on the 

 race, was that Phyllis seemed to be going well also. There 

 was nothing in it yet. Condition would do much for a 

 horse that came out of a training stable in a race against 

 a lot of animals prepared at home ; but still the mare 

 seemed to jump more easily, and to gallop much more 

 freely, than she had done at the Common Farm. With- 

 out a semblance of effort she kept her place a length or 

 two behind Dobbin ; and though the pace was very 



D 2 



