l be a
good deal on the water."

"I shall certainly do myself the pleasure of calling, Lady
Greendale."

"I warn you, Frank, that Bertha and I will be very disappointed if
the Osprey does not win the cup. We regard ourselves as being, to
some extent, her proprietors; and it will be a grievous blow to us
if you don't win."

"I do not feel by any means sure about it," he said. "I fancy there
will be several boats that have not raced yet this season, and as
two of them are new ones, there is no saying what they may turn
out."

Frank only stayed two days in town. He learned from Jack Hawley
that it was reported that Lord Chilson and George Delamore had both
been refused by Bertha Greendale.

"Chilson went away suddenly," he said. "As to Delamore, of course
as he is a Member he had to stop through the Session, but from what
I hear, and as you know I have some good sources of information, I
am pretty sure that he has got his conge too. I fancy Carthew is
the favourite. As a rule I don't like these men who go in for
racing, but he is a deuced-nice fellow. I have seen a good deal of
him. He put me up to a good thing for the Derby ten days ago. He
gives uncommonly good supper parties, and has asked me several
times, but I have not gone to them, for I believe there is a good
deal of play afterwards, and I cannot stand unlimited loo."

"Is he lucky himself?" Frank asked.

"No, quite the other way, I hear. I know a man who has been to
three or four of his suppers, and he told me that Carthew had lost
every time, once or twice pretty heavily."

"Carthew's horse ran second, didn't it, for the Derby?"

"Yes, the betting was twenty to one against him at starting."

"I wonder he did not give that tip as well as the other."

"Well, he did say that he thought it might run into a place, but
that he was sure that he had no chance with the favourite. As it
turned out, he was nearer winning than he expected; for the
favourite went down the day before the race, from 5 to 4 on, to 10
to 1 against. There was a report about that he had gone wrong in
some way. Some fellows said that there had been an attempt to get
at him, others that he had got a nail in his foot. The general
feeling had been that he would win in a canter, but as it was he
only beat Carthew's horse by a short head."

"Had Carthew backed his horse to win?"

"He told me that he had only backed it for a hundred, but had put
five hundred on it for a place, and as h