out of Oxford, and he is rather a pretty hand at classics; yet he
tries to look and talk like a jockey, and his mother has to keep him
because he won't do any work. A shrewd little thing he is, and this is
how we talked:--

"Shall I drive you over to the meeting to-morrow?"

"If you like."

"We can do a bit together if you'll dress yourself decently. Barrett
says there's a new hunter coming out. It could win the Cesarewitch with
8st. 4lb., but they mean keeping his hunter's certificate. Put a bit
on."

"Wait till we see."

"Lord! If I could get the mater to part--only a pony--I'd buy a satchel
and start bookmaking in the half-crown ring myself. It's Tom Tiddler's
ground if you've got a nut on you."

"Queer work for a 'Varsity man?"

"Deed sight better than bear-leading, or going usher in a school. Fun!
Change! Fly about! What more do you want?"

"Do you like to hear the ring curse? Dick and Alf often make me
goose-skinned."

"What matter, so you cop the ready?"

"Do you read now?"

"Not such a Juggins. I think my Oxford time was all wasted. Of course, I
liked to hear Jowett palaver, and it was quiet and nice enough; but give
me life. Bet all day; dinner at the Rainbow, Pav., or Trocadero, and
Globe to finish up. That's life!"

If anyone had chances this youth had them, and now his ambition is to
bet half-crowns with the riddlings of Creation. This universe is getting
to be a little too much for me. Come down, pipe; I shall go in the
Chequers parlour to-night, and play the settled citizen.

MERRY JERRY AND HIS FRIENDS.

I never saw such a cheerful face as Jerry's. Master Blackey can smile
and smile; he can smile on me even now, though I know almost to a
certainty that it was he who left that discoloured ring round my throat
not long ago. But Blackey can scowl also, whereas Jerry never ceases to
look benignant and jolly. He is a fine young fellow is Jerry, six feet
high, straight as a lance, ruddy, clear-skinned, and with the bluest,
brightest eye you can see. When he walks he is upright and stately as
the best of Guardsmen, without any military stiffness; when he spars he
is active as a leopard, and his mode of landing with his left is at once
terrible and artistic. Sometimes he drinks a little too much, and then
his sweet smile becomes fatuous, but he never is unpleasant. The girls
from the factory admire him sincerely; they call him Merry Jerry, and
he accepts their homage with serenity. He n