At this palpable challenge of beauty every eligible man in the country, who had a decent horse, was eager to try his fortune.
The large field of fifteen or sixteen competitors was expected, and already there had been some heavy wagering at the clubs.
Nothing worthy of note occurred in connection with any of the other races at Wincastle; but the unfortunate and peculiar circumstances surrounding the battle for the Silver Gauntlet soon became the all-absorbing topic of conversation.
The race was a success in a monetary sense, but the clerk of the course would sooner cut off his right hand than include it in his programme a second time.
It was the first and last Silver Gauntlet ever contested for on the Wincastle Downs.
Amongst the surging crowd at the entrance to the Black Bull might have been seen two men in deep conversation; they were a strange contrast to each other. One was a tall, handsome, devil-may-care-looking fellow about thirty, who owned an estate in the neighbourhood, and who, from a disappointment in love or something else, was said to be going headlong to ruin. Yet his comrades would tell you that a more open-handed and steadfast friend than Ivan Moordown did not exist.
The other man, who was making Moordown wince at his coarse and cutting remarks, was a noted member of the betting ring—Billy Platt. Billy's appearance was not in his favour; it was of the costermonger order of beauty, and his vocabulary would have furnished an important addition to a new slang dictionary.
His disgraceful language and revengeful disposition made the ex-vendor of cauliflowers generally feared and detested. Emanating from the lowest rung of the ladder, and encountering unpleasant difficulties in his way, such as being half-murdered at Ascot, and nearly drowned at Hampton, it was believed that he now laid himself open to get the "swells" into his toils.
It was well known that the Marquis of H——, Lord W——, and Mr. B——, were all obliged to discontinue attending race meetings because Billy declined to give them a few weeks' grace to square their accounts.