“No, nobody’s come back but you. What about master? Is he along with her ladyship?”
“No; he was took bad just afore the race, but Dr Granton give him a pick-me-up that kep’ him going till he’d won the race.”
“Her ladyship had give him a talking-to, I suppose?”
Mark grinned, winked, and lifted his elbow in a peculiar way, suggestive of drinking.
“Oh-h-h!” exclaimed Jane, in a half-whisper. “What a shame!”
“Sh!” whispered the groom. “Not a word. Don’t say a word to a soul. I wouldn’t have trusted anyone else with it, Jenny. I believe it was on’y a glass or two of fizz on the top of a bucketful of excitement because he was going to ride.”
“But there it is, you see, Mark! horses and racing leads to drinking, and I mean to think twice before I tie myself to anyone who drinks and gambles. Is master with her ladyship now?”
“No, I tell you; he’s badly, and stopping at Simpkins’s, with Master Syd taking care of him; and her ladyship was took bad too, after a rumpus at the hotel.”
“Oh, how disgraceful!” interrupted Jane. “Her ladyship stooping to do that, and master getting tipsy and running races. I shall give notice, Mark. I’ve got a character to lose.”
“You’d better! You don’t leave here till—you know.”