id not eat his meals, and one thing Lexton had always affirmed was
that he had never known a gentleman as fine and regular in his habits
as his Grace, and had always said that 'twas because he was so regular
that he was such a man as he was--so noble in his build and so clear in
his eye, and with such a grand bearing.

At last, turns up in the street young Langton, who had run over to
Paris, as he had a habit of doing when he was out of humour with his
native land, either because his creditors pressed him, or because some
lady was unkind. And he stopped my lord Duke in the Rue Royale, filled
to the brim with the excitement of the news he brought fresh from
London.

"Has your Grace heard of my Lady Dunstanwolde's breaking of the horse
Devil?" he cried. "The story has reached Paris, I know, for I heard it
spoke of scarce an hour after my arrival. On Tuesday I stood in Hyde
Park and watched the fight between them, and I think, God knows! that
surely no woman ever mounted such a beast and ran such danger before.
'Tis the fashion to go out each morning and stand looking on and laying
wagers. The stakes run high. At first the odds were all against my
lady, but on Tuesday they veered and were against the horse. How they
can stand and laugh, and lay bets, Heaven knows!" He was a good-natured
young fellow and gave a little shudder. "I could not do it. For all her
spirit and her wrists of steel, she is but a woman and a lovely
creature, and the horse is so great a demon that if he gets her from
his back and beneath his feet--good Lord! it makes me sick to think of
it." He shook his shoulders with a shudder again. "What think you," he
cried, "I heard Jack Oxon wager? He hath been watching her day after
day more fierce and eager than the rest. He turned round one moment
when the beast was doing his worst and 'twas life and death between
them. And she could hear his words, too, mark you. 'A thousand pounds
against fifty,' he says with his sneering laugh; 'a thousand pounds
that she is off his back in five minutes and that when she is dragged
away, what his heels have left of her will bear no semblance to a
woman!"

"Good God!" broke from the Duke. "This within her hearing! Good God!"

"In my belief 'twas a planned thing to make her lose her nerve," said
the young fellow. "'Tis my belief he would gloat over the killing of
her, because she has disdained him. Why is there not some man who hath
the right to stop her--I--" his honest