“He would.”
“And the more he drank the bigger the price was that he said he got from you. When Doyle turned him out in the end he was saying that he had your cheque for £60 in his pocket. I don’t suppose Doyle believed that. Nobody would. But he probably thinks you gave £40 or £45.”
“All I gave was £30. But I don’t see that it matters what Doyle believes.”
“It does matter,” said Dr. O’Grady. “If Doyle believes you gave £40 for the filly, and if you were to offer her to him for £35 he’d think he was getting a bargain and he’d jump at it. Doyle’s just the kind of fool who thinks he knows all about horses and so he’s quite an easy man to stick. Come on now, and we’ll try.”
Major Kent was in all ordinary affairs of life a strictly honourable man. But horses are not ordinary affairs. It is on record that a bishop, an Irishman and therefore intensely religious, once sold a thoroughly unsound horse to an archdeacon for a large price. The archdeacon had a high opinion of the bishop beforehand, regarding him as a saintly man of childlike simplicity. He had a much higher opinion of him after he understood the failings of the animal he had bought. He then respected the bishop for his shrewdness. Horse-dealing is a thing apart from all other buying and selling. Honesty, in the common sense of the word, does not enter into it. Therefore, Major Kent was quite ready to defraud Doyle if he could. He and Dr. O’Grady walked into Ballymoy together for the purpose.
They reached the corner of the market square and caught sight of Mr. Billing’s large motor-car standing outside the hotel. Doyle and Gallagher, who had stopped drinking, were standing near it.
“If Doyle’s bought that motor,” said the Major, “he won’t look at the filly.”
“He hasn’t,” said the doctor. “What would he do with the motor if he had it? All the same it’s queer. I don’t know what it’s doing there. Nobody with money enough to own a car like that could possibly be stopping at Doyle’s Hotel. Come along and let’s find out about it.”
They hurried across the square and greeted Doyle and Gallagher.
“Whose is the big motor?” said Dr. O’Grady.