"No racing! I am astonished. Are not your people rather slow?"

"We have few diversions, my lord; we do not win money by racing."

"You can have no conception of what a grand sight it is. Everybody
goes to the Derby--dukes, lords, bishops, rectors, ladies, and
gentlemen. Before the race begins, we have our lunch parties. All are
eating, talking, laughing, or laying bets. The horses come out from
their stalls with the jockey boys in red, green, blue, and yellow, in
their saddles. They draw lots to see which shall have the inside, then
go down the track a little distance. The horses understand what they
are to do just as well as we who stake our money. They sniff the air,
step lightly, then break into a run, and everybody is on tiptoe. In a
moment they are down to the first turn, and come in full view. There
are four, perhaps, neck and neck. You have staked, say, on yellow. He
loses half a length, and your heart goes down: but he gains a little,
is up even once more--half a length ahead, and you yell and double
your stakes. They are round the second turn, going like a whirlwind;
yellow and blue are ahead of the others, neck and neck.

"'Two to one on yellow!' you shout.

"'I'll take it!' roars Lord Pilkington.

"'Two to one on blue!' he shouts back.

"'Put me down for it!' you answer.

"They are on the home run. There is a great hubbub, like the roaring
of a tornado, as they sweep under the line, yellow ahead. You swing
your hat, and yell as loud as you can. You are ten thousand in. Oh, it
is just the jolliest excitement a man can have!"

"If you win, my lord, does not somebody else lose?"

"Of course, Miss Newville."

"Do they feel equally jolly?"

"Possibly not. Sometimes we are out of pocket, and do not feel quite
so hilarious, but we swallow a stiff nipper of brandy and draw our
checks like men. I won five thousand from Lord Pilkington, three
thousand from Lady Merryfield, and quite a number of one hundred
pounders from the ladies of my set, who bet on the blue, while I
planked mine on the yellow. You see, Miss Newville, that ladies are
sometimes influenced by fancy. Lady Somers, for instance, allowed
fancy to get the better of judgment. She likes blue as a color, above
yellow. She is quite horsey, and thinks she can drive a tandem. I had
examined blue, felt of his muscles, and made up my mind that by and by
he would have ringbone on his left fore leg. I believed that yellow
had the best wind and bottom