HORSE-DEALING 



Of course, after his death all his interests slumped 

 to about eight millions. He was very, very kind to 

 me, and we became close friends. He had a little 

 steeple-chase course made at Thorpe Satchville, 

 and we very often used to compete over this. He 

 had a very charming wife, and a boy named Bobbie 

 — both dead. Bobbie was killed flying. 



We had another pretty good customer in Sir Henri 

 Deterding. He was head of Shell Mex. One 

 morning in the winter my brother and I were 

 having breakfast and there was a tap on the door 

 and, on opening it, I saw a short man, not very 

 smartly dressed, with leggings round his trousers. 

 He wanted to know if I had any hunters to see, 

 so I went round with him and showed him two 

 or three that I said I wanted £150 and £\20 for. 

 Then he asked me if I could not show him some- 

 thing better. I suddenly felt this man might be a 

 millionaire in disguise, so I asked him if he would 

 give me ;£500 for a horse, and he said he should 

 like to see him. I suppose the fact of me wanting 

 so much made him feel he must be a very good 

 horse. Anyhow, he bought him and took him 

 to hunt in Kent. He was a very good horse, but 

 no earthly use to him. He was a thoroughbred 

 horse called Sprinkle Me, and hit his fences rather 

 low. 



I soon heard from Sir Henri. He was very angry, 

 and said that he had been told that we were a very 

 respectable and reliable firm of dealers, etc., etc. 



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