rincipled old man, bad all round; and such the Duke knew him to
be. But the blue blood and the rank were there; and as the girl was
good herself, he would have been quite contented that his son should
marry the daughter of Lord Grex. That one and the same man should
have been in one part of himself so unlike the other part,--that he
should have one set of opinions so contrary to another set,--poor
Isabel Boncassen did not understand.

CHAPTER XLIX

The Major's Fate

The affair of Prime Minister and the nail was not allowed to fade
away into obscurity. Through September and October it was made
matter for pungent inquiry. The Jockey Club was alive. Mr. Pook was
very instant,--with many Pookites anxious to free themselves from
suspicion. Sporting men declared that the honour of the turf required
that every detail of the case should be laid open. But by the end of
October, though every detail had been surmised, nothing had in truth
been discovered. Nobody doubted but that Tifto had driven the nail
into the horse's foot, and that Green and Gilbert Villiers had shared
the bulk of the plunder. They had gone off on their travels together,
and the fact that each of them had been in possession of about twenty
thousand pounds was proved. But then there is no law against two
gentlemen having such a sum of money. It was notorious that Captain
Green and Mr. Gilbert Villiers had enriched themselves to this extent
by the failure of Prime Minister. But yet nothing was proved!

That the Major had either himself driven in the nail or seen it done,
all racing men were agreed. He had been out with the horse in the
morning and had been the first to declare that the animal was lame.
And he had been with the horse till the farrier had come. But he had
concocted a story for himself. He did not dispute that the horse
had been lamed by the machinations of Green and Villiers,--with the
assistance of the groom. No doubt, he said, these men, who had been
afraid to face an inquiry, had contrived and had carried out the
iniquity. How the lameness had been caused he could not pretend to
say. The groom who was at the horse's head, and who evidently knew
how these things were done, might have struck a nerve in the horse's
foot with his boot. But when the horse was got into the stable he,
Tifto,--so he declared,--at once ran out to send for the farrier.
During the minutes so occupied the operation must have been made with
the nail. That was T