"There they are, gents, as like as two peas, and if it weren't for a small splash of white on the inner side of 'Buffalo's' left hock, there's very few men in my stable could tell one from the other."
Victor Carrington, observing that Dale was talking to the horse-dealer, drew near the animal, with the air of an interested stranger, and stooped to examine the white mark. It was a patch about as large as a crown-piece.
"'Niagara' seems a fine creature," he said.
"Yes," replied a groom; "I don't think there's many better horses in the place than 'Niagara.'"
When Douglas Dale returned to the examination of the two horses, Victor
Carrington drew Sir Reginald aside, unperceived by Dale.
"I want you to choose the horse 'Niagara' for Lionel Dale," he said, when they were beyond the hearing of Douglas.
"Why that horse in particular?"
"Never mind why," returned Carrington, impatiently. "You can surely do as much as that to oblige me."
"Be it so," answered Sir Reginald, with assumed carelessness; "the horse seems a good one."
There was a little more talk and consultation, and then Douglas Dale asked his cousin which horse he liked best among those they had seen.