228 A Lucky Mistake 



her on the day. Leighton could say no more than that 

 he had seen her coming full of running when he looked 

 round after challenging and getting the better of St. 

 Christopher, and the mare's light weight had got her 

 home. 



CHAPTEE III 



The lunch at the club on the following Monday was 

 a somewhat gloomy function, and indeed, how could it 

 be otherwise ? Ashdown had seen his lawyer, the 

 Towers was to be advertised for sale, and with what 

 he could scrape together from the wreck its owner was 

 to try his fortune in the Colonies. There was a prospect 

 of his mine and bank recovering, but such prospects 

 are often deceptive, and for the present expatriation 

 seemed the only course ; so, though he tried to be 

 cheery, there was necessarily an effort about it. Ash- 

 down, moreover, was weighed down by the thought 

 of the task he had before him — the interview with his 

 cousin Ethel ; and towards three o'clock the friends set 

 out for Charles Street, where the girl lived, Cranleigh 

 saying that he would stroll as far as the street corner ; 

 but turning up St. James's Street, they saw their commis- 

 sioner, Smith, approaching. Ashdown was half annoyed 

 at the remarkably genial smile which overspread his face 

 as he caught sight of them — he did not expect sympathy 

 from the man, but he need not have grinned so broadly ; 

 there seemed no occasion for that ! If the dash had come 

 off, Smith could not have looked more pleased, but, of 

 course, he knew nothing of his client's circumstances, 

 and could not guess what the race for the Meadshire 

 Handicap had meant to Ashdown. 



