WHO IS TO RIDE HIM? 311 



exclaimed, after looking at it, " only twelve stun 

 one ; four pounds lighter in less than a week, and 

 without exercise." 



" Or physic," continued Bradon. " Banting, Tim, 

 Banting. No bread, no butter, no sugar, no beer, no 

 saccharine matter of any sort ; plenty of meat, bis- 

 cuits, toast, claret, and seltzer-water. That is my 

 diet, and I never felt so well. If wanted I shall 

 be able to ride eleven stone with the greatest ease." 



#-i£~ -& *S£ -& 



*7r "TV "TV* *7v* 



In a luxuriously-furnished dining-room, some 

 three months after the events which we have de- 

 scribed, five or six gentlemen were discussing their 

 wine. 



" I cannot make it out," said a heavy-built man 

 of five-and-forty or so ; "I have tried everything I 

 know, and am not a bit the wiser than when I 

 began. This Bradon is a most extraordinary fellow. 

 I took the trouble of going clown to Dorsetshire 

 myself, and all I could arrive at was that Bradon 

 was travelling. The servants knew nothing, or 

 would know nothing. They were aware the stud- 

 groom had gone and taken two horses and a lad 

 with him ; that was all I could get out of them. 

 Well, I went to the groom's house and saw his 

 wife. She looked at me, and received me as if I 

 had been a thief. It was a regular mull. That 



