The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1894-02-02

etc., y was sinuer the impression mat
tho animals which ran in handlcaps
were Of quite an inferior class. This,
Natty assured me, was by no means the
case; that nowadays horses of the high
est class competed in such races, and
cited Isonomy. who had made his rep
utation in them, and ST. Gatien, Il Der
by winner. whose greatest performance
had been to carry IL high weight sue
cessfully in the C~osarewitch. These he
considered the best two horses since
Blair Athol. Sixties. he said. had beat
en- a lot of useful animals in her first
essay with the cracks, including Pc
dometer, her former trial nag, and 1t
was quite on the cards that she would
one day pull oft a good race for me.
In this hope | was to keep IN running
her al the discretion of himself and
Pearce.
Meanwhile my relations with Ella
remained in statu quo. | could seldom
see her now in consequence of the ac-
ton taken by her parents, who contin-
ned to press Dakyn upon her with what
seemed to me abominably bad taste,
for, though there might be nothing
against my cousin Richard, yet a girl
of Elias sense might be supposed to
know with which of her suitors she had
the best hope of happiness, and she had
already signifed her choice. Neverthe-
less it came hard on me that, while he
was allowed free access to my lady
love, | vas never permitted to see her,
CO chat u,h,+auar on,, ,,,nino lows ,nncc
ed between us were necessarily of a
semiclandestine character, and this was
both irksome and undignified to persons
of full age and possessed of their fair
share of common sense. Had been
in parliament at this time, | should GER
tainIy have e~ndeavored to bring in a
bill for the limitation of parental au-
thority in respect of grown up daugh-
tiers. | was particularly annoyed about
it for my mothers sake, who, while
fully approving of Ella, resented chis
treatment of her son as an indignity to
his family, which she naturally held to
be quite as good a n as the Cholmon-
dely-Davenports. In consequence she
urged me to give up Ella, and | was
daily in dread of her making it a point
of duty to herself that | should do so.
There are few more disagreeable situa-
tons for an honorable man to be in
than to be engaged to a girl under sucL
circumstances. There was no valid
reason for giving it up and little salts
faction in continuing the engagement.
Happily my interview with Ella at the
ball had removed from me all doubts
as to her constancy, as well as any jeal-
Ousy might have felt toward my rival.
With what amount of honor my cous-
in Richard behaved toward me at this
time l have never quite known. We
did not often meet, but when we did
we were civil enough to each other,
and no word about Ella ever passed be
tween us. Some one however, I'M
doubtedly did at this time spread avery
nasty report concerning me, that | was
ruining myself by betting, as my uncle
had done who left me the horses, and
that, having been a poor man to start
with, | was already on my last legs.
Now, this report, although absolutely
untrue, was calculated to do me serious
mischief under my present circum-
stances. | felt sure that it must have
reached the ears of the Davenports be-
fore it came round to me, and no doubt
they would make use of it to prejudice
me with Ella. | had no misgivings as
to her waiting for an explanation from
me, but meanwhile it would make her
anxious, and | could not remember that
| had ever told her of my resolution to
have nothing to do with the bookmak-
ers, although | had entered upon their
domain. The report, at any rate, gained
ground, and at length the colonel,
seeing me perhaps more gloomy and re-
served than | was wont to be, asked me
about it and appeared greatly relieved
when l told him there was not the
slightest foundation for such a report.
But he said kindly enough:
Il am deuced glad to zeal it. | don't
like to interfere in matters of a private
nature, but l do wish, Martindale, you
could see your way to getting rid of
those race horses. If you don't bet
yourself, they encourage your brother
officers to do so, and I'm afraid some
of the youngsters may be led into losing
more than they can afford for the honor
Of the corps. An occasional steeple-
chase l don't mind, but when a mar
takes to fat racing there's the devil to
pay. You'll take what l say in good
part, I know, Martindale."
Certainly, colonel" replied, and
fastened to explain that l had but one
horse left and was DESTROYS to sell that
so soon as / could do SO advantageously.
Shortly after this news came from
Pimperne, where the mare was being
trained, that she had o~verpowered her
lad in a gallop and bolted across the
downs; that she had run SO far and so
stoutly as to make it evident to her
trainer that she was a slayer of no COM
mon order, and that, acting upon this
informal trial, they had resolved to ac-
cept for her in the Cesarewitch, for
which she had been entered, and accord
ingly she was to be trained for a dis
lance and reserved for that race. In
order to give her the best possible chance