at knack of always turning up a king? Some one
asked Buxton what was to be done about it. 'Is it certain?' said he.
'Perfectly certain; we have seen him do it a hundred times!' 'Then back
him,' said old Ruxton; 'that's my advice to you.'" As he said this
he drew a chair towards the table and proceeded to fill out a cup of
chocolate. "Where do you get these anchovies, Charley? Burke has got
some, but not half the size."

"They are ordered for the household. Lawson can tell you all about
'em," said the other, carelessly. "But, I say, what bets did you book on
Laplander?"

"Took him against the field for seven hundred even."

"A bad bet, then,--I call it a very bad bet."

"So should I, if I did n't know Erebus is dead lame."

"I've seen a horse run to win with a contracted heel before now," said
Lord Charles, with a most knowing look.

"So have I; but not on stony ground. No, no, you may depend upon it."

"I don't want to depend upon it," said the other, snappishly. "I shall
not venture five pounds on the race. I remember once something of an
implicit reliance on a piece of information of the kind."

"Well! you know how that happened. I gave Hilyard's valet fifty pounds
to get a peep at his master's betting-book, and the fellow told Hilyard,
who immediately made up a book express, and let us all in for a smart
sum. I am sure I was the heaviest loser in the affair."

"So you ought, too. The contrivance was a very rascally one, and
deserved its penalty."

"The expression is not parliamentary, my Lord," said Linton, with a
slight flushing of the cheek, "and so I must call you to order."

"Is Turcoman to run?" asked Lord Charles, negligently.

"No. I have persuaded Cashel to buy him, and he has taken him out of
training."

"Well, you really go very straightforward in your work, Linton. I must
say you are as plucky a rogue as I 've ever heard of. Pray, now, how do
you manage to keep up your influence over that youth? He always appears
to me to be a rash-headed, wilful kind of fellow there would be no
guiding."

"Simply, by always keeping him in occupation. There are people like
spavined horses, and one must always get them warm in their work, and
they never show the blemish. Now, I have been eternally alongside of
Cashel. One day buying horses,--another, pictures,--another time it
was furniture, carriages, saddlery,--till we have filled that great old
house of the ex-Chancellor's with an assemblage of objects,