He thought intently for a moment. "Jove, how it all works out!" he cried. "The Armitages live at Partingborough, and now I'm a man of property in that neighbourhood. I'll go and take possession of the Grange—I'll go to-morrow. Then I'll make my first investment—I'll buy Castor. Oh, Rada"—he laughed aloud in his glee—"I wonder what you'll say if I win the Derby next year, and with the horse you think so much of?" His face grew reflective. "I can't make up my mind what I think of you really, Miss Rada Armitage," he said slowly, "I ought to hate you, but I'm not sure—I'm not sure. Yet I feel this; you have come into my life—you have influenced it—and we have not done with each other yet. You've put me on my mettle, Rada, and it's going to be a tussle between us."
CHAPTER VII.
MOSTYN IS SURPRISED.
On the following day Mostyn travelled down to Partingborough, in Cambridgeshire, by a late afternoon train. He had paid a visit to Messrs. Chester and Smithers that morning, had fully discussed his plans with Mr. Chester, had learnt that a large sum of money would be placed to his credit that day, and that he could draw upon the firm for more should he require it; then he had broached a subject which had been worrying his mind during the night.
"If the details of this extraordinary will are given to the public," he said, "it's very plain that my task will be made more difficult—for me. Dealers will ask what they like for their horses because they will know that I simply must purchase. Every swindler in England will be on my track. I shall be exploited right and left. That's clear, I think. Now, Mr. Chester, is it essential that the will shall be published before my year is up?"
Mr. Chester gave the matter his very careful attention. It was palpably a point of importance. When he spoke it was in his usual oracular vein.
"What you say is very reasonable, Mr. Clithero, and, upon consideration, we think we can meet you in the matter. There will be no difficulty in realising the estate of the late Mr. Royce, since it is mainly in American gold bonds, payable to bearer; and, since the ultimate trusts are of such a nature that they will not come into force for a full year, we see no reason why probate should not be delayed for the period you require. This must, of course, be subject to the consent of the American agents, but we do not anticipate difficulty with them."
Mostyn felt intensely relieved, and said so. He had been dreading the amount of public interest that would certainly have been aroused in his undertaking. Now he would confide in Pierce and Cicely, but in no one else.
This point settled, Mostyn took his departure, after announcing his intention of going down to Partinborough that day. He had an idea in his head that Mr. Royce may have had some subtle object in mind in bequeathing him this estate, situated, as it was, so close to the home of the Armitages. Was it perhaps Castor of which he had been thinking—or could he have desired to throw Mostyn and Rada together? It was impossible to guess. All Mostyn knew of his property was that it had been rarely occupied by the American, and that the house was an old one, only partly furnished and very much out of repair.
Mostyn studied racing literature as he travelled down in the train, totally ignoring magazines, of which he was usually fond, and every form of light reading. He had purchased the evening paper solely with the object of absorbing the sporting intelligence. Ruff's Guide and a stud book bulged prominently in the pocket of his blue serge coat; he had promised himself that these works should be his inseparable companions during the months to come. Oh, yes, he would soon be well up in sporting technicalities; he laughed at himself now as he remembered his blunders on Derby day. To have asked the age of Hipponous—to have suggested that Hipponous should run in the Oaks—and above all to have been taken in by that old joke about the Waterloo Cup—his cheeks reddened even now as he thought of it.