our fortunes to
victory was not made without anxious debate, since Selina's choice was
based upon the colour scheme of the jockey's coats, and mine on the
romantic associations of the animals' names. In the end we compromised
on a horse called Grand Parade.

Next, equally momentous, we selected a bookmaker who was to oblige us
by opposing our fancy at the most advantageous rate. I was in favour
of picking a man whose abundance of chin and paunch would, should he
default, prevent his attaining more than four miles an hour on the
flat. I had already discovered one that answered this description. He
was soliciting clients in a voice that made one think a vulture might
be rending his liver. Selina, who pretends to read character from
faces, declared his eyes were too close together for those of an
honest man. She had singled out a more suitable individual, and she
indicated to me a slender gentlemanly man dressed in a grey frock-coat
with a tall hat of the same colour just pathetically beginning to grow
shabby. He also invited custom, but in a refined, almost confidential
tone which, in comparison with the braying of his rival, resembled
the cooing of a dove. His features, which to me denoted weakness of
character, Selina asserted to be those of an honourable man struggling
with adversity. It was to support an ailing wife, she felt sure, that
he toiled at his uncongenial vocation. I should have liked to explain,
though I knew it was useless, that our object in dealing with him
was not to contribute to the support of his wife; that our success,
indeed, might mean that the unhappy lady would be deprived for many
a week to come of those little delicacies that are essential to the
comfort of an invalid.

Against my better judgment I gave in and our little stake was
deposited in his hands. I almost felt inclined to apologize for
its smallness, but his courtesy in accepting it rendered excuses
unnecessary. Nevertheless I should have preferred, when taking up a
position to view the race, to have chosen a spot from which we could
at the same time have kept an eye on his gentlemanly tall hat. Selina
however poohpoohed the idea. We therefore walked some little distance
to a point on the hill whence, some ten minutes later, we had the
satisfaction of seeing Grand Parade gallop home a winner.

In the moment of triumph I had almost forgotten my apprehensions as to
our bookmaker. Selina however had not, for, as we caught sight of
his