158 A Good Thing 



* Well, I can't see that it's a good thing,' presently 

 observed Frey, looking up from a number of the ' Eacing 

 Calendar.' ' I can't see that there's anything much in it 

 one way or the other,' he added, taking a fresh cigarette 

 from a box on the table and reverting to the page before 

 him, where, under the head of * The Hundred-and-ninth 

 Lancers and South Downshire Hunt Meeting,' was the 

 item : 



Match : 100 sovs. each, h ft, three miles, over steeplechase course. 



Captain York's Fisherman 6 yrs. 12 st. 



Mr. Barnes's Dewdrop 5 yrs. 11 st. 



' No,' acquiesced little Leigh, whose peculiarity it was 

 that he always believed that he agreed with everyone, for 

 he did not, in truth, possess wit enough to grasp both 

 sides of a question at the same time. ' I don't see that 

 it's a catch ! ' 



Upton buried his fair moustache in his tumbler of 

 brandy and soda and said nothing ; but Darsham, who 

 had sat silent for some time in a dark corner behind a 

 big cigar, growled out an opinion that if Upton thought 

 it was all right, it was not likely to be far wrong. 



' That's very true. Old Upton don't make many 

 mistakes, you know ! ' little Leigh replied, wagging his 

 head towards Frey, as if reproving him for the implied 

 doubt. 



' Still, one would like to understand,' Frey said. 

 ' Look here. They've met twice before this year, these 

 two. They ran at Plumpton,' he went on, turning it up 

 in the * Guide,' notwithstanding that they were all quite 

 familiar with the record, * and Dewdrop ran nowhere ; 

 Fisherman second to a real good horse. Well, we'll put 

 that aside if you like ; they didn't back her, and I heard, 

 when she ran at Kempton afterwards, that in the Plump- 



