“Perhaps that would be a more exact description. However, these things will happen on the Turf, and it is useless to complain.”
“I wish I had your sunny disposition, Jeeves!”
Jeeves bowed.
“We now rely, then, it would seem, sir, almost entirely on Mrs. Penworthy. Should she justify Mr. Little’s encomiums and show real class in the Mothers’ Sack Race, our gains will just balance our losses.”
“Yes; but that’s not much consolation when you’ve been looking forward to a big win.”
“It is just possible that we may still find ourselves on the right side of the ledger after all, sir. Before Mr. Little left, I persuaded him to invest a small sum for the syndicate of which you were kind enough to make me a member, sir, on the Girls’ Egg and Spoon Race.”
“On Sarah Mills?”
“No, sir. On a long-priced outsider. Little Prudence Baxter, sir, the child of his lordship’s head gardener. Her father assures me she has a very steady hand. She is accustomed to bring him his mug of beer from the cottage each afternoon, and he informs me she has never spilled a drop.”
Well, that sounded as though young Prudence’s control was good. But how about speed? With seasoned performers like Sarah Mills entered, the thing practically amounted to a classic race, and in these big events you must have speed.
“I am aware that it is what is termed a long shot, sir. Still, I thought it judicious.”