The Great Downs hi re Handicap 6\ 



' How do you stand ? ' the other asked, after a 

 moment's pause. 



' I stand to win nearly fifteen thousand— fourteen 

 thousand eight hundred and fifty. The money averages 

 8 to 1, but I got a thousand to eighty three times for 

 a foundation. Yes, I am an awful ass, as you so politely 

 observe, and yet there is a certain amount of method in 

 my madness. If I don't pay Isaacs twelve thousand 

 pounds before the seventeenth, he'll foreclose. I've got 

 very little more than a thousand left, and what is the good 

 of the few hundreds to me ? I may as well go broke 

 handsomely while I'm about it, and the case is just this : 

 if Fortunatus wins, I shall be on my legs again ; if he is 

 beaten, I really shan't be much worse off than I am at 

 present — it would only be postponing the evil day for a 

 few months.' 



' Your uncle's hopeless, of course ? ' 



' My dear fellow, you know him as well as I do. If 

 he knew anything about it, that I'd been mortgaging the 

 old place and playing the fool generally, he'd never for- 

 give me, and he'd take deuced good care to break off my 

 engagement to Edie. She's all right — I mean I am 

 sure of her affection— but what could we live on if I 

 married her ? No ! On Fortunatus all my hopes de- 

 pend. And here they come ! ' 



Over the brow of the rise where we saw them 

 disappear the four horses are now returning at a gallop, 

 and the two spectators watch keenly as they approach. 

 This is not exactly a trial, but a good strong gallop, the 

 last Fortunatus is to have on his home downs before 

 being sent to compete in the Great Downshire Handicap, 

 in which the jockey-trainer, Dick Chattress, little sanguine 

 as he is about anything, having seen certainties upset 



