“I don't see why he should be liked for that,” Isobel said. “As far as I have seen, good looking men are not so pleasant as others. I suppose it is because they are conscious of their own good looks, and therefore do not take the trouble of being amusing. We had one very good looking man on board ship, and he was the dullest man to talk to on board. No, Doctor, I won't have any names mentioned, but I am right, am I not?”
“He was a dull specimen, certainly,” the Doctor said, “but I think you are a little too sweeping.”
“I don't mean all good looking men, of course, but men who what I call go in for being good looking. I don't know whether you know what I mean. What are you smiling at, Mr. Wilson?”
“I was thinking of two or three men I know to whom your description applies, Miss Hannay; but I must be going—they are just going to start the next race, and mine is the one after, so I must go and get ready. You wish me success, don't you?”
“I wish you all the success you deserve. I can't say more than that, can I?”
“I am afraid that is saying very little,” he laughed. “I don't expect to win, but I do hope I shall beat Richards, because he is so cock sure he will beat me.”
This wish was not gratified. The first and second horses made a close race of it; behind them by ten or twelve lengths came the other horses in a clump, Wilson and Richards singling themselves out in the last hundred yards and making a desperate race for the third place, for which they made a dead heat, amid great laughter from their comrades.
“That is excellent,” Major Hannay said; “you won't see anything more amusing than that today, girls. The third horse simply saved his stake, so that as they will of course divide, they will have paid twenty-five rupees each for the pleasure of riding, and the point which of their tats is the fastest remains unsettled.”
“Well, they beat a good many of them, Major Hannay,” Miss Hunter said; “so they did not do so badly after all.”
“Oh, no, they did not do so badly; but it will be a long time before they get over the chaff about their desperate struggle for the third place.”