illy work before,
you see; and it's no good trying that again."

Captain Clavering really believed that he had learned a good deal, and
that he now knew the way to set about the work before him. What sort of
spurs he was to use, and how he was to put them on, I don't think he did
know; but that was a detail as to which he did not think it necessary to
consult his adviser. He sat the whole evening in the smoking-room, very
silent, drinking slowly iced gin-and-water; and the more he drank, the
more assured he felt that he now understood the way in which he was to
attempt the work before him. "Let her know I'm there," he said to
himself, shaking his head gently, so that no one should observe him;
"yes, let her know I'm there." At this time Captain Boodle--or Doodles,
as he was familiarly called--had again ascended to the billiard-room,
and was hard at work. "Let her know that I'm there," repeated Archie,
mentally. Everything was contained in, that precept. And he, with his
hands before him on his knees, went through the process of steadying a
horse with the snaffle-rein, just touching the curb, as he did so, for
security. It was but a motion of his fingers, and no one could see it;
but it made him confident that he had learned his lesson. "Up to the
bit," he repeated; "by George, yes, up to the bit. There's nothing like
it for a trained mare. Give her head, but steady her." And Archie, as
the words passed across his memory, and were almost pronounced, seemed
to be flying successfully over some prodigious fence. He leaned himself
back a little in the saddle, and seemed to hold firm with his legs. That
was the way to do it.

And then the spurs! He would not forget the spurs. She should know that
he wore a spur, and that, if necessary, he would use it. Then he, too,
gave a little click with his tongue, and an acute observer might have
seen the motion of his heel.

Two hours after that he was still sitting in the smoking-room, chewing
the end of a cigar, when Doodles came down victorious from the
billiard-room. Archie was half asleep, and did not notice the entrance
of his friend. "Let her know that you're there," said Doodles, close
into Archie Clavering's ear; "damme, let her know that you're there."
Archie started, and did not like the surprise, or the warm breath in his
ear; but he forgave the offence for the wisdom of the words that had
been spoken.

Then he walked home by himself, repeating again and again the invalu