The Life of Fred Archer 195 
up by maxrying his master's niece. When he was about 
twelve, the younger Dawson children would go out to parties, 
and sometimes their father or uncle, knowing that Fred was 
not a common sort of little boy, would say ' Just walk down 
there with Miss Nellie, or I\Iaster So-and-So ' ; or ' Go down 
and fetch them.' And he would put his hand in his pocket 
and give Fred a shilling. They were quite little children then — 
a good deal younger than Fred. 
"The Dawsons were great people in Newmarket. There 
was a lot going on, and they were thought much of, even by 
the great people who lived round there, and, of course, in a 
way it seemed a great thing for Fred to marry Nellie, They say 
someone once remarked to Mrs. Mathew Dawson that Nelhe's 
people might have looked higher for her. She and Mathew 
Dawson had no children, and they thought the world 
of Fred. Mrs. Mathew fired up and said very sharply : ' A 
princess might have aspired to marry Fred.' After that no 
more was said. 
" Well, at the time when I went to Falmouth House with 
little Fred, Fred said, ' You may as well leave the boy 
behind.' I rephed, ' But he's only come for a few days ; he's 
just brought his best clothes and a few things besides.' Fred 
said, ' Never mind, we'll see to that. I'U write and get some 
things sent down.' He then said to the boy, 'You'd like to 
stay on, wouldn't you, Freddy ? ' And Fred, childlike, said, 
' Yes.' For the next two years he never came home except 
on a visit. They kept him there altogether. His Auntie 
Nellie was so kind to him. She was not a bit selfish, like some 
young girls just married, and she had come from such a big 
house where she had had everything done for her. But she 
took such a lot of trouble with little Fred. She would always 
be so particular that he was clean and tidy, and would make 
him wash his hands when he got grubby, as boys will. She 
had little parties of other boys and girls — the trainers' 
sons and suchlike — for him, and did everything she could to 
