300 The Life of Fred Archer 
get interested again in it, but I think I shall never care about 
racing again. 
" Mrs. Dawson has promised to let little Nellie Archer come 
up to me at Crackenthorpe in Westmoreland this autumn, and 
I fancy Mrs. Jewitt will come with her children for a week or so. 
I hope if you can spare the time you will come also ; it is a 
funny old place. Little Nelly has just been up to see me ; 
she seems well and has grown a good deal. I fancy that she 
will always be a nervous child. 
" I remain, yours truly, 
" J. O. Machell." 
" Newmarket. 
"August I, '87. 
" Dear Mrs. Coleman, 
" I am much obliged to you for returning the letter ; 
it is the last I ever wrote to him. I shall not go to Brighton 
or Lewes this week, but am off to Yorkshire to-morrow, and 
shall rest until Doncaster. I did not put you on Sigurd ; he 
had nasty cracked heels. If is as good as I think him, I 
will put you on him for the St. Leger. I will let you know if 
I can get my party right for Crackenthorpe. I think you will 
like the place, though there is not much to do ; a change to a 
new place is always pleasant. 
" I have taken Cheveley Paddocks for my brood mares and 
foals, and to-day moved all the animals from Moulton there. 
" We won six races at Goodwood, but nothing big. 
" I remain, yours truly, 
"J. 0. Machell." 
The late Mr. Wyndham B. Portman, the then proprietor 
of Horse and Hound, whose writing under the nom de 
plume of " Audax " was widely known and read, wrote in 
that paper on Saturday, November 13, 1886 : 
*' The one absorbing topic of conversation in Turf circles 
