believe he made
it up), and Comyn gave oath that I could; and then he offered to bet
Comyn that I could not ride this Pollux, who had killed his groom.
That made me angry, and I told the duke I was no jockey to be put up to
decide wagers, and that he must make his offers to me."

"La!" said Dolly, "you fell in head over heels."

"What do you mean by that?" I demanded.

"Nothing," said she, biting her lip. "Come, you are as ponderous as Dr.
Johnson."

"Then Mr. Fox proposed that his Grace should ride after me."

Here Dolly laughed in her handkerchief.

"I'll be bound," said she.

"Then the duke went to York," I continued hurriedly; and when he came
back we met him at the Star and Garter. He insisted that the match
should come off in Hyde Park. I should have preferred the open roads
north of Bedford House."

"Where there is no Serpentine," she interrupted, with the faintest
suspicion of a twinkle about her eyes. "On, sir, on! You are as
reluctant as our pump at Wilmot House in the dry season. I see you were
not killed, as you richly deserved. Let us have the rest of your tale."

"There is very little more to it, save that I contrived to master the
beast, and his Grace--"

"--Was disgraced. A vastly fine achievement, surely. But where are you
to stop? You will be shaming the King next by outwalking him. Pray, how
did the duke appear as he was going into the Serpentine?"

"You have heard?" I exclaimed, the trick she had played me dawning upon
me.

"Upon my word, Richard, you are more of a simpleton than I thought you.
Have you not seen your newspaper this morning?"

I explained how it was that I had not. She took up the Chronicle.

"'This Mr. Carvel has made no inconsiderable noise since his arrival
in town, and yesterday crowned his performances by defeating publicly
a noble duke at a riding match in Hyde Park, before half the quality of
the kingdom. His Lordship of March and Ruglen acted as umpire.' There,
sir, was I not right to beg Sir John Fielding to put you in safe keeping
until your grandfather can send for you?"

I made to seize the paper, but she held it from me.

"'If Mr. Carvel remains long enough in England, he bids fair to share
the talk of Mayfair with a certain honourable young gentleman of
Brooks's and the Admiralty, whose debts and doings now furnish most
of the gossip for the clubs and the card tables. Their names are both
connected with this contest. 'Tis whispered that the wager upo