Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-13
CHAPTER VIII.


pHE heavy rain of the night be-
fore and the clustering squalls
of the early morning had been
succeeded by brisk. bright In
dian summer weather. In the
stable yard the Duke was unsaddlins
Lady Belle. having brought that famous
mare In from her afternoon exercise The
going had been good, for the sward was
unsea sonably springy and verdant. The
air had been bracins. with those qualities
that exhilarate like sparkling wines. Its
influence moved him with a desire to sing,
and he did So breaking into snatches OF
BLACK Eyed Susan" in a high and some
what duvering. but no unpleasing. voice.
And If the general effect was marred by
sundry interjected admonitions Of Hi.
there" Whoa. back and. STEADY. OF
gal; keep yer bleedin' air on" why, 1t
was Of no consequence. There was no
Duke supposed. Not that 1t would have
made any difference-he would have gone
on Just the same, being in musical
humor.
William. 90 Ugh upon the ye-ard.
Rocked by the billers to and fro
f Sighed
The di;ty was interrupted by the arrival
Of Crawford and Mallory and command
from the latter to leave Lady Belle and
hitch up the buggy. Mallory wanted to
drive his partner to the station himself.
but Crawford would not hear of it. There
was no occasion for him to go to so much
trouble. he said. Mallory did not need
much persuasio to induce him to remain
at home. He had little time enough to
spend with Patsy. He was very grateful
to Crawford whose thoughtfulness had
raised him still higher In his estimation,
SO when the Duke brought the buggy
around he ordered the boy to go along
with great heartiness. and Mallory
watched the departing New Yorker until
turn in the road masked him from
sight.
He was more than pleased with the
partner he had had the good fortune to
vantage to himself from the financial
point of view was not great. For the
time being he would, as he had told his
flaneee, get little more than his keep as
the funds that had thus come to him at a
time OF dire need he would not have been
able to continue the business at all. Now
he hoped in the more or less near future
to be able to make enough to give up the
training stable and try his luck with a
fered a better chance of success. His
experience as a trainer on his own &C.
count had opened his eyes to the fact
that training stable such as his was
ness to be handed down from father to
son. He realized that horse racing had
become the plaything of rich men. who
lavished unlimited wealth upon their
sport. competed for the pick Of race
horses in all countries and trained them
in private 1t would be folly for him to
seek to make a breach in the wall Of cap
ital which blocked his way. and upon
which he could only hammer impotently
with his fists. His only hope was that
among the few yearlings he possessed
there might be one or two which would
enhance the little repute Lady Belle had
brought to his stable and enable him to
dispose of them at fancy prices. In the
meantime he congratulated himself upon
having secured the support Of such fine
fellow as Richard Crawford.
Crawford himself was we'll pleased will,
his own part Of the bargain, which was
good deal more advantageous to him
than 1T was to Mallory. He was by no
means a millionaire. but he was we'll off,
and ii had been his great desire to ape
the wealthier men of his set by obtaining
a proprietary interest in a racing stable.
1t was an unexpected bit of luck that had
enabled him to realize his ambition. and
he was all the more sratified in that he
Of business. for he was no fool. and the
commercial instinct was sufficiently de-
veloped within him to lead him to order
most Of his affairs with an eye to the
main chance.
Are you the Shrimp" he demanded of
the Duke, who was driving, as they
emerged on to the highway.
NO. sir. begin yer parding. sir; me
naime's Perkins William Perkins but
there's some as cawls me the DUKE, he
"Oh. you're the Duke" was Craw-
fords comment, and thereafter he re-
manned silent. wrapped in thought
throughout the journey. Uppermost in his
mind was his interview with Patsy. He
did not like her. and with good reason.
With her keen intuition and familiarity
with individuals of his stamp she had
read him through instantly and sized him
up as bounder. Her conversation with
him had been brief and to the point.
ms her finger at him. My little sister 8
not for you to monkey with. She's too
good an don't know enough for the likes
O. you. Understand? You keep your
mitts of. or you'll find yourself up
He would have passed the matter of
with a facetious, bantering remark but
she had forestalled his reply, and init
mated that there was nothing more to be
said by rising and leaving the room. He
wondered whether she would tell Mallory
about It, He did not care whether she
did or not. II the subject ever came up
again. he would dismiss it as absurd. as a
joke, and further, as matter not to be
reverted 10. He did not purpose to be put
to any annoyance He would have pur-
sued no conquest" that was likely to in
volve him in trouble. such a game not be-
ing worth the candle. He resented Patsy s
iecturing and contemptuous treatment of
him as a piece of astounding imperti-
hence. He had magined this stableman' s
daughter as a frail stage tigurante. who
would be highly flattered by his associa-
tion with her steady and his conde-
scension to herself and her family He
had planned to continue his acqu aintance
with her in New York and thus keep in
touch with her sister. He now set her
down as being altogether too fresh" and
not worth his patronage.
But Nora's eyes. her mouth, the readi-
ness with which she had lent herself to
his kiss. haunted him. She was not at
all like her sister She had no head. She
knew nothing. She had swallowed the
bait of the bet with a most promising
eagerness. and her anxiety for secrecy
and the manner in which she had acted
when her sister had interrupted them
convinced him that she was to be
trusted" He felt sure that she would
look him up at his Office on the quiet at
the first ODDOrtunity. If she was afraid