d. He had but
one reply to give. "The whole nation is a mystery to me. Of all the
English people I only understand the English thieves!"

In the mean time the two gentlemen, making their way through the crowd,
reached a wicket-gate in the fence which surrounded the inclosure.

Presenting a written order to the policeman in charge of the gate, they
were forthwith admitted within the sacred precincts The closely packed
spectators, regarding them with mixed feelings of envy and curiosity,
wondered who they might be. Were they referees appointed to act at
the coming race? or reporters for the newspapers? or commissioners of
police? They were neither the one nor the other. They were only Mr.
Speedwell, the surgeon, and Sir Patrick Lundie.

The two gentlemen walked into the centre of the inclosure, and looked
round them.

The grass on which they were standing was girdled by a broad smooth
path, composed of finely-sifted ashes and sand--and this again was
surrounded by the fence and by the spectators ranked behind it. Above
the lines thus formed rose on one side the amphitheatres with their
tiers of crowded benches, and on the other the long rows of carriages
with the sight-seers inside and out. The evening sun was shining
brightly, the light and shade lay together in grand masses, the varied
colors of objects blended softly one with the other. It was a splendid
and an inspiriting scene.

Sir Patrick turned from the rows of eager faces all round him to his
friend the surgeon.

"Is there one person to be found in this vast crowd," he asked, "who has
come to see the race with the doubt in his mind which has brought _us_
to see it?"

Mr. Speedwell shook his head. "Not one of them knows or cares what the
struggle may cost the men who engage in it."

Sir Patrick looked round him again. "I almost wish I had not come to see
it," he said. "If this wretched man--"

The surgeon interposed. "Don't dwell needlessly, Sir Patrick, on the
gloomy view," he rejoined. "The opinion I have formed has, thus far, no
positive grounds to rest on. I am guessing rightly, as I believe, but at
the same time I am guessing in the dark. Appearances _may_ have misled
me. There may be reserves of vital force in Mr. Delamayn's constitution
which I don't suspect. I am here to learn a lesson--not to see a
prediction fulfilled. I know his health is broken, and I believe he
is going to run this race at his own proper peril. Don't feel too sure
befo