le. He is here?" said the lady, sternly.

The trainer's jaw dropped, and, like lightning, a thought flashed
through his brain.

The wife, to stop the gentleman from mounting the mare! It was
salvation.

But the next moment the hope died out. In such an emergency the wife's
appeal would be as so much breath. It would be like grasping at a
shadow and letting the substance go.

"Do you not understand, my man?" said Lady Lisle, impatiently. "My
husband--he is here?"

"Sir Hilton Lisle, Bart.?" said the trainer, who determined to stick to
the substance and let the shadow glide. "Oh, no, my lady, he ain't
here."

"Where is he, then?"

"I dunno, my lady," replied the man, coolly. "At the races, I should
suppose."

"How could I find him in all that crowd?" murmured the unhappy woman.
Then, setting her teeth hard to suppress the feeling of passion that was
growing fast, she turned to the man again, and her voice was perfectly
firm and cold, as she said authoritatively: "You have a daughter, man?"

"That's right, my lady," said the trainer, and he smiled faintly. "Oh,"
he continued, "I suppose I know what brings your ladyship here."

And once more a thought crossed his mind as to the possibility of
stopping Sir Hilton's jockeyship by setting his wife upon his track.
But he dismissed it directly, to respond to his visitor's command.

"I suppose you do, sir," she said haughtily. "Send the woman here."

"Woman, eh? Why, she's a mere gal, my lady."

"Don't speak to me like that, man," cried Lady Lisle. "Where is your
daughter?"

"On the grand stand, I s'pose, along o' him."

"This is monstrous!" cried Lady Lisle, passionately. "Oh, man, can you
stand there with that base effrontery and speak to me like this?"

"Can I, my lady? Yes. Why not? I'm not your paid servant, and I
dessay if we totted up together and compared notes, I, Sam Simpkins,
trainer, could show as good a hincome as your ladyship. At least, I
could yesterday," he muttered.

"Yes, yes, no doubt; but have you no sense of the moral wrong? Are you
shameless, or ignorant of your responsibility to your child?"

"Well, you're a-pitching it pretty strong, my lady; but I won't kick,
for I dessay you do find it rather a bitter pill to swallow."

"Man, you are shameless!" cried Lady Lisle, and the trainer chuckled.

"Well, my lady, I'm not troubled much with that sort o' thing.
Bashfulness is a bit in the way in my trade."

"I'll set it