h care--what a bargain he
had got; for Hermit not only sired two Derby winners in Shotover and St
Blaise, before he died his sons and daughters had won among them
L300,000 in stake-money alone. Not much later came that ill-starred
Derby, which none who saw it can ever forget. Lord Hastings, angry at
having lost the horse to his rival, laid the long odds against Hermit
so recklessly that he stood to lose a large fortune by his success; and
Hermit's last few gallant strides cost him over L100,000.

It was a staggering blow, under which the most stoical man with the
longest purse might well have reeled; but the Marquess met it with a
smile of indifference; and when, a few minutes later, he drove off the
course, with his friends, in a barouche and four to dine at Richmond, he
seemed the gayest of the company. A few days before his death, recalling
this tragic moment in his life, he said proudly, "Hermit fairly broke my
heart. But I didn't show it, did I?"

That his smiling face must have masked a very heavy heart, it scarcely
needed his own confession to prove. Rich as he still was, the loss of
more than L100,000 was a very serious matter. Indeed we know that he was
only able to meet his liabilities by parting with his magnificent estate
of Loudoun in Scotland, which realised L300,000. When the doors of
Tattersall's opened on the morning of settling-day, the first to present
themselves were his agents, who handed over L103,000 in settlement of
all claims against the Marquess. Mr Chaplin had scored, and scored
heavily; but at least it should never be said that his defeated rival
had shrunk from paying the last ounce of the penalty the moment it was
due.

When next his lordship appeared on a race-course--it was at Ascot, a few
months later--he was greeted with thunders of cheers from the
bookmakers, a tribute to his pluck and sportsmanship, which must have
taken away some of the sting of defeat. But fate which had dealt this
merciless blow to the Marquess was in no mood to spare him further
disaster. The second stroke fell within five months of the first--at the
Newmarket second October Meeting. The favourite for the Middle Park
Plate was Lord Hastings' filly, Elizabeth, whose chances he fancied so
much that he backed her heavily, confident that he would recover a great
part of his Derby losses.

When Elizabeth, instead of running away from her rivals, passed the
winning-post a bad fifth, even his iron nerve failed him fo