I reasoned with myself. I reminded myself of my few former ventures. But the craving to put, if not my shirt, at all events half a sovereign on “Mrs. Waller” only grew the stronger the more strongly I battled against it. I felt that if “Mrs. Waller” won and I had nothing on her, I should reproach myself to my dying day.
I was on the other side of the course. There was no time to get back to the enclosure. The horses were already forming for the start. A few yards off, under a white umbrella, an outside bookmaker was shouting his final prices in stentorian tones. He was a big, genial-looking man, with an honest red face.
“What price ‘Mrs. Waller’?” I asked him.
“Fourteen to one,” he answered, “and good luck to you.”
I handed him half a sovereign, and he wrote me out a ticket. I crammed it into my waistcoat pocket, and hurried off to see the race. To my intense astonishment “Mrs. Waller” won. The novel sensation of having backed the winner so excited me that I forgot all about my money, and it was not until a good hour afterwards that I recollected my bet.
Then I started off to search for the man under the white umbrella. I went to where I thought I had left him, but no white umbrella could I find.
Consoling myself with the reflection that my loss served me right for having been fool enough to trust an outside “bookie,” I turned on my heel and began to make my way back to my seat. Suddenly a voice hailed me:—
“Here you are, sir. It’s Jack Burridge you want. Over here, sir.”
I looked round, and there was Jack Burridge at my elbow.
“I saw you looking about, sir,” he said, “but I could not make you hear. You was looking the wrong side of the tent.”