bow of the neck, and feeling the width of
the magnificent ribs beneath him, stooped from his saddle a second as he
rode out of the inclosure and bent to the Seraph.

"Look at him, Rock! The thing's as good as won."

The day was very warm and brilliant; all Baden had come down to the
race-course; continuous strings of carriages, with their four or six
horses and postilions, held the line far down over the plains; mob there
was none, save of women in matchless toilets, and men with the highest
names in the "Almanac de Gotha"; the sun shone cloudlessly on the broad,
green plateau of Iffesheim, on the white amphitheater of chalk hills,
and on the glittering, silken folds of the flags of England, France,
Prussia, and of the Grand Duchy itself, that floated from the summits of
the Grand Stand, Pavilion, and Jockey Club.

The ladies, descending from the carriages, swept up and down on the
green course that was so free from "cads" and "legs"; their magnificent
skirts trailing along without the risk of a grain of dust; their costly
laces side by side with the Austrian uniforms of the military men from
Rastadt. The betting was but slight, in odd contrast with the hubbub and
striking clamor of English betting rings; the only approach to anything
like "real business" being transacted between the members of the
Household and those of the Jockey Clubs. Iffesheim was pure pleasure,
like every other item of Baden existence, and all aristocratic,
sparkling, rich, amusement-seeking Europe seemed gathered there under
the sunny skies, and on everyone's lips in the titled throng was but one
name--Forest King's. Even the coquettish bouquet-sellers, who remembered
the dresses of his own colors which Cecil had given them last year when
he had won the Rastadt, would sell nothing except little twin scarlet
and white moss rosebuds; of which thousands were gathered and died that
morning in honor of the English Guards' champion.

A slender event usually, the presence of the renowned crack of the
Household Cavalry made the Prix de Dames the most eagerly watched-for
entry on the card; and the rest of the field were scarcely noticed as
the well-known gold-embroidered jacket came up at the starting-post.

The King saw that blaze of light and color over course and stands that
he knew so well by this time; he felt the pressure round him of his
foreign rivals as they reared and pulled and fretted and passaged; the
old longing quivered in all his eager