196 The Life of Fred Archer 
amuse him and make him happy. Every night she heard him 
say his prayers. Little Fred, in a way, had a better time 
than his brothers and sisters, and he has seen a good deal of 
the world since." 
Mrs. John Dawson has some letters written to her by Mrs. 
Fred Archer about little Fred, Once he got lost on the way 
back from school — whether intentionally or otherwise history 
does not relate — and Mrs. Archer wrote a note to her sister-in- 
law saying, ' Fred and I are very anxious about him.' Another 
time she wrote that she should be very glad for him to come 
to Mrs. Dawson's little party and that she should want to 
know if he was a good boy. 
Mrs. Pratt continued: " I remember Geheimniss, that mare 
mentioned in the scrap-book. Fred was riding her in the 
City and Suburban Handicap once when I was staying with 
him at Falmouth House. He was so sure of winning that he 
said, ' Look here, I'll put you 25 to 8 on Geheimniss, odds on.' 
He and nearly everyone else felt so sure about the race that I 
felt quite hopeful of taking quite a large sum of money home 
with me — and it was needed, I can tell you. When Fred had 
gone off to the race-meeting, I asked my sister-in-law, ' Do 
you think Fred will win ? ' Nellie said, * Oh yes, I think 
he is sure to, he is so very confident about it. Indeed, 
I should say you can feel as if the money was already in your 
pocket.' I did ; but by-and-bye came a telegram from 
Fred: ' Wood beat me by a head.' So that was the end of 
my hopes. 
" Of course, when you feel sure of a horse is the time to 
put a large sum of money on him if you ever intend to do 
it. My brother Charlie had a thousand pounds on a horse 
once ; it was Highland Chief, one of Lord Ellesmere's that 
he had trained. They were all so certain of him winning. I saw 
that race, and the first three horses were so close together that 
you could have covered them with a sheet. The judge said 
St. Blaise had won, but lots of people thought Highland Chief 
