180 Life and Times of " The Druid." 



the fair lands of Loudoun passed from the 

 Marquis's hand. At Ascot his lucky star 

 rose once more. Lady Elizabeth and Lec- 

 turer were both in form, and his lordship kept 

 backing them, and piling on the winnings 

 again by a sort of geometric progression, 

 gambling till he had won nearly half ' his ain 

 again.' It was now the turn for reverses. 

 He rather fancied The Earl, but the stable 

 overruled him in favour of Lady Elizabeth. 

 The flying filly came back, with sadly 

 chequered fame, a bad fifth for the Middle 

 Park Plate, and yet the victress in one of 

 the most wonderful of modern matches at 

 9 lb. with the three-year-old Julius. 



" The Marquis had now fallen back again to 

 nearly the same ' agony point ' in finance as 

 when he saw the ' all-rose ' handed home for 

 the Derby. A weary winter followed, and 

 he was so driven from pillar to post by money 

 troubles and creditors that he lost his interest 

 in Turf matters and his head for calculation 

 with it. The irritable Lady Elizabeth wasted 

 to a shadow in her training ; and how The 

 Earl was scratched, and then became the 

 hero of the Grand Prix and of Ascot, and how 



