‘The Irish mare is fast then?’ said Jasper, bewildered.
Prodgers smiled mysteriously. ‘Why, we’ve finished the cup,’ he said. ‘Here, Tomkins; get some more ice, and’——
‘No, no; thank you,’ said Jasper, rising with flushed cheeks. ‘I have had enough, and it is time for me to be moving. But before I go to the railway station, I will take a peep at this phenomenon of yours, Prodgers, if you please.’ The stable was visited accordingly; and Jasper, who had been prepared to see something ugly, found the reality to surpass his imagination.
‘Queer-looking creature, isn’t she? Lengthy as a crocodile, clumsy, and rough-coated in spite of grooming,’ remarked Prodgers. ‘I think I never saw a thoroughbred shew so few signs of breeding. Why, the white feet alone would disgust most judges of a horse.’
All this the owner of the Irish mare said in cheerful chuckling tones, rubbing his hands together the while, as if he spoke in jest. But Jasper Denzil, who knew enough of his friend to be aware that he was altogether incapable of an expensive joke, such as sending a worthless animal to the starting-post would be, and who was sufficiently experienced in horses to know how little can be known about them, began to entertain a profound distrust of his own judgment.
‘About fit, after all, for a railway omnibus,’ said Prodgers. ‘Here we are at the station. Your train, eh? We’ve just saved it.’
‘Well, I’ll ride for you, Jack,’ said Jasper as he took his seat.
‘All right, dear boy. I’ll send you a line about arrangements,’ was the answer.
And so the confederates parted.
Jasper Denzil’s heart was lighter as he drove briskly through the grand avenue at Carbery Chase (he had left his groom and tandem at Pebworth to await his return) than it had been of late. The stagnation of his recent life in the Devonshire manor-house had been agreeably disturbed. He seemed for a time to have again a share in what was to him the real world of thought and action—of no very elevated thoughts or noble actions, but such as suited him—and to be again something more than heir-apparent to a baronetcy and heir-presumptive to an estate.