THE FORTUNA FILLY.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 812, 28 September 1905, Page 12

THE FORTUNA FILLY.

(By

HOWEL SCRATTON.)

CHAPTER XXlll.— (Continued.) ■ 3it down here by me,” she said at last, ana seated herseli on a luxuriouslypaudea sofa, a little too big for two and a little too small for three. Twitterton took his place beside her. “ 1 iiave been thinking a great deal about you lately," he said. “ iteally? 1 hope you thought nice things about me, then," . said M.rs. Baines. '■ I have come here to tell you my thoughts I I have seen a good deal of you now, and I find that. 1 cannot go on like this. I may as well say it—l love you I 1 cannot look at you without a thrill! I cannot hear your voice without a tremor. Scents that remind me of you intoxicate me, sounds that recall your voice set me dreaming! What am I to do? I love you! I love you!" Mrs. Baines looked at him with the soft, sensuous, wonderfully alluring expression that her violet- eyes sometimes conveyed, and smiled. “ What am I to do?" he cried again. “ I love you! and I know that you are a beautiful woman, probably surrounded by men who say that to you every day; and I suppose it does not seem much to you—only what you have a right to expect ! But it is death to me," and tears stood in poor Twitterton’s eyes. Mrs. Baines was not cruel, and she knew her own mind exactly. She would not keep this man on renter-hooks. She opened her arms and said “Come!” and Twitterton somehow found himself folding the lady to his breast and covering her beautiful cheeks with kisses. “Oh, my darling!" he exclaimed “ Thank God I this is more than I deserve !” While Mrs. Vasher Baines was engaged with Mr. Twitterton in the boudoir, Hamilton Rolfe called, and was shown into the drawing-room, where Delia was sitting alone. After a few common-place remarks, he drew his chair, nearer to her, and said, “ I have never seen a girl who interested me as much as juu do, Miss Ashingdon!” “ I am sure I don’t know why I should interest you particularly," replied Delia; “you never interested me very much!” “ Don’t be unkind I I suppose it is because you know that you are rich, and that I am not, that you won’t look at me?” “ Riches never entered into the mat;er at all,” said Delia, wishing that Mrs. Baines would come to her rescue. “ Well, then," pursued Rolfe, “ you ue not too young to understand what ove is. I love you, and I mean to marry rou I" “ Mr.' Rolfe!" exclaimed Delia. “I lave never given you the least right to nsult me like this!” “ I don’t mean to insult you, but I am letermined that you shall be my wife! I lave sworn it!” cried Rolfe. “ I am going !” said Delia, rising. Rolfe sprung from his chair and seized Jelia round the waist, attempting to dss her. “ Let me go, you brute,” said Delia, truggling violently, but afraid to cry >ut on account of the scene which would nsue. “ I love you ! promise to be my wife md I will let you go!" whispered Rolfe. “ I would rather die!" screamed Delia. ‘ Let me go.” “ I swear I will not let you go till ou have kissed me and promised to aarry me,” said Rolfe, beside himself. Delia had been edging round towards he bell, and when it was within reach, he seized the handle and pulled it with II her might. Rolfe did not see what she had done, o he redoubled his attempts to kiss her. When she heard the sound of steps on he stairs, Delia suddenly left off strugglag and sat down on the settee. “ Kiss me, if you want to !” she said, auntingly. “ I shall like the footman

o see you doing it, for I hear him coning, and he will throw you out of the ouse if you don’t go quietly. And she held her face towards him agravatingly, well knowing that he dared ot kiss her.

The footman opened the door and )oked inquiringly for orders. “ The door for Mr. Rolfe!” said Delia, nd turning to Rolfe, “ Good afternoon, Ir. Rolfe; I am afraid we shall not see ou again for a long time.” “ Good-bye, Miss Ashingdon,” said ’olfe, and he tried to walk out of the lorn in the presence of the servant as if othing out of the ordinary course had jcurred.

Delia rushed to her bedroom and burst into a torrent of tears.

She longed to see Dash, and to tell him all about it; but she knew that if Dash ..heard of Rolfe’s conduct there would be a scene and a scandal, and she made up her mind to keep the matter from him, for she dreaded her name mixed up as being the cause of Dash giving Rolfe a horse-whipping. And so she waited till Mrs. Baines came up to her, with the news that she had accepted Mr. Twitterton’s proposal of marriage; and then, after congratulating her friend, she fell on her neck, sobbing, and told her all about Hamilton Rolfe’s conduct. “ Don’t trouble yourself about that, my dearest Delia; we will tell the servants that we shall be ‘ not at home,’ if he calls again. You were quite right to decide not to say anything to Dash about it, for I believe he would kill him. Pull yourself together, and cheer up I Mr. Twitterton has gone home to dress, and he is coming here to dinner, and, with him, Dash.” “ Are you quite certain that I ought to say nothing to Dash about it ?’ ’ asked Delia. “ Quite certain ! It would upset everything if you did. If Dash smashed him up and it came out in the papers,everyone would know that you were bound to Dash, and then your lather would have a word to say.” “ Very well, dear Mrs. Baines, I will keep the horrible thing; quiet until I am married to Dash, but then I will tell him; and I hope I shall be there when he horsewhips that cad Rolfe! But now I want water; lots of cold water with toilet vinegar in it to cool my eyes and wash my hands from the touch of that loathsome man ! I feel contaminated by his touch. Look at my wrists where he held them?” and she showed the marks of Rolfe’s fingers. “ Never mind, dear,” said Mrs. Baines; “it will be all right after you have put your hands in the cold water.” CHAPTER XXIV. RANELAGH. “ I don’t see why you should call me ‘ Mrs. Baines,’ ” said that lady one day, when she was driving Delia down to Ranelagh, “ I would like you to call me Laura.” “ Very well, dear; I will call you Laura for the future,” said Delia. “ That will be much nicer.” “Do you know, Laura,” Delia went on, “I have never been to the Ranelagh Club—l am so looking forward to it!” “ I think you will enjoy yourself today ; there will be tent-pegging and polo, and then some balloons will go up, and we shall see everyone we know there; and altogether it will be very jolly.” “ Dash said he would le there at about five," remarked Delia. “ Yes, I know. John Twitterton is coming with him. Isn’t it fun our being engaged to two friends—we can make them run after us in couples, like dear little dogs," and Mrs. Baines laughed. “ I am so glad you accepted Mr. Twitterton, Laura dear; I saw he was in love with you some time ago, and I wondered when he would propose.” “Poor, dear man; I don’t believe he ever would have proposed if I had not helped him, but he is a duck, and I could not bear to see him looking so miserable.” “ Of course,” said Delia, “ you will be able to marry when you like, but poor Dash and I will be obliged to wait until we get enough money to set up housekeeping on.” “ I will tell you a secret, Delia, dear. Of course it is not to be talked about yet, but John says he is going to apply for silk very soon, for he thinks it would be nice to be a King’s counsel before we are married; so that that ought to help Dash on a bit."

“How will it help Dash?” asked Delia. “Of course it will be very nice for Mr. Twitterton to take silk, but I don’t see how it will benefit Dash.”

“ Well, then, that is just what I am going to tell you. You know that John has a very large practice as a junior.” “ Yes, I know; one of the largest, Dash says it is.” “Very well; when John takes silk it is most likely that Dash will get nearly all his junior briefs; John says that he can induce most of his solicitors who brief him to engage Dash as his junior." “ How delightful!” cried Delia, “ then Dash really will get on ! Oh, it is kind of Mr. Twitterton !”

“ John says it will be much more convenient to him to have Dash in his cases than a stranger, because Dash was his pupil and always has had a room in his chambers, so that John knows the way he does his work.”

“I am delighted! I cannot tell you how glad I am, Laura, and how kind I think it of Mr. Twitterton ! But you have told me a secret, and I will tell you one in return.”

“Oh, yes; tell me a secret, dear. I love secrets." “ You remember the day when we went to Alexandra Park races?" “ Of course I do; when Baiham won." “ Yes; well you remember there was a horse called the Fortuna filly that ran in the same race?” ‘‘ I remember; she got a very bad start and finished third.” “ Well, after the race, Mr. Straight bought the Fortuna filly for Dash, and she is now being trained for him at a place called Poledown, near Gatherstone." “ What fun exclaimed Mrs. Baines. “When is she going to run? We must go and see her win.” “ Oh, she won’t run till the end of October. She is going to run in the Cambridgeshire, and her trainer thinks she is a very good filly, so perhaps we may win a lot of money." “ How exciting! We must manage to go to Newmarket and see the race,” said Mrs. Baines. The carriage stopped at the gates of the Ranelagh Club, and the gate-keeper, in a straw hat with a red ribbon, came forward and took the ladies’ passes. “Right, coachman!" he said, and they drove through the shrubbery and round to the door of the fine old Club-house. The hall and reception-rooms were filled with a throng of men in frock coats and patent boots, and ladies in all the most marvellous confections of Worth and Paquin, and Mrs. Baines guided Delia through the gay crowd and out on to the terrace at the back. The scene was delightful; a band was playing under the trees, and all the world of fashion seemed to have congregated on the great mossy lawn. There were boats on the lake paddling up and down in the shade of immense cedars, much to the annoyance of a troop of black and white bernicle geese, who had been driven from the water by the rowers, and were holding an indignation meeting on an island, where they expressed their disapprobation by shrill hisses. “ Let us go and get good places for the gymkhana,” said Mrs. Baines, and they wandered away to the old polo ground, where already a great many people had assembled. A number of drags were there, and as they crossed the road Lord Thistleton drove up with his team of bays, with their sleek coats shining like satin in the sunshine. Beautiful polo’ ponies were being led about by their grooms, and men in white breeches and brown boots were waiting to take part in the sports. The ladies found some vacant chairs, and sat down to look on. First there was tent-pegging, in which several Indian native princes took part, their brown complexions and great black eyes looking the darker in contrast with the brilliant colours of their magnificent turbans. The pegs were placed in rows of four, along a strip of turf which looked like a miniature racecourse, and the competitors rode four abreast, galloping the length of the course and picking up the pegs on their lances as they passed. After the tent-pegging came a game which was called pig-sticking; the pig being represented by a sack of wadding attached to a rope which a man on horseback held in his hand, trailing the pig behind him, and followed by the hunters, armed with spears and riding the cleverest polo ponies imaginable. The man who trailed the pig galloped about the course whilst the others pursued him and tried to stick the porker, but whenever a spear came dangerously close to the poor animal, a sudden jerk of the rope caused it to bound away, and its would-be assassin only speared the ground. At last, after a most exciting chase, one of the Indians managed to drive his spear right through the pig and pin it to the earth. The man with the rope let go, and the hunters gathered round to witness the death struggles of the wadded sack.

There were other sports, and then a game of polo, which interested Delia immensely ; and Mr. Twitterton and Dash made their appearance just in time tc see the three huge balloons go up and sail majestically away, with the aeronauts in the cars waving their hats in token of farewell.

Then they had tea on the lawn, and listened to the band till dinner time, when they repaired to the large diningroom in the garden, and had a capital dinner; after which they sat on the terrace in basket chairs, and heard the vocalists who sang under the light of the Chinese lanterns, whilst >;offee and liqueurs were brought, and Twitterton and Dash slowly smoked their cigars. “ Does John know about your racehorse?" whispered Mrs. Baines to Delia. “Yes; Dash told him,” said Delia. “ Very well. I shall talk about it, then. Ido want to hear more about the filly.”

So she turned to Dash and said, “ Delia has let me into the secret about the Fortuna filly. What are you going to call her? I suppose you will give her a name?” “Oh, yes,” replied Dash; “let us all think of a name. What do you propose, Mrs. Baines?" “ What is the father’s name?" asked the lady. “Peasant." replied Dash. “ Well, 1 should call her ‘ Mis Fortune,’ ’’ said Mrs. Baines. “Oh, no!" cried Delia; ‘that is a horrid name. What do you suggest, Mr. Twitter ton !’ ’ “ How would ‘ Out of Luck’ do?" asked Mr. Twitterton. “It is just as bad as the other; we want to be in luck, not out of luck. Dash, you have a try." “ What do you think of ‘ Treasure Trove’ ? That is the sort of thing a Peasant finds when he has fortune. “ I like that much better than the others," said Delia. “ Well, let us hear what you propose yourself, Delia," said Mrs. Baines. “ I know a good name for her, but 1 shall not give it to her till she has won the Cambridgeshire: she will remain the Fortuna filly till then, and she shall change her name when I do," and Delia looked roguishly at Dash. “ Then there will be a good deal of changing of names amongst the ladies about that time. I don’t think Baines is such a pretty name as Twitterton," said the bearer of the last-mentioned patronymic. “ Be quiet, John !” said Mrs. Baines. “ I shall go away with Delia and leave you men to enjoy each other’s society if you talk such nonsense.” “Beg pardon,” said Mr. Twitterton; “ but really Twitterton is an awfully pretty name. It sounds like love-birds twittering!" “Donkeys!” cried Mrs. Baines, striking at her lover with a fan. “I heard from Tritton about the filly to-day," remarked Dash; “he says that she is very well, and he likes her immensely ; but he wants me to buy something to lead her in her work, so I have written to him to authorise him to spend three hundred pounds on a horse for that purpose.” “ Three hundred seems a lot of money to give," said Mrs. Baines. “ Well, Tritton says that he must have something that can go a bit, as the horses he has got cannot get out of her way; and he thinks if he has any luck he will be able to buy a horse than can pick up a little race as well and so pay back his purchase money.” “ Let us go for a quiet stroll round by the lake,” said Mrs. Baines; “the water looks so pretty with the reflections of the lanterns on it.” “ Oh, do let us !” chimed in Delia. “It will be lovely.” And so they paired off and walked by the side of the great cool brown sheet of water, and over the rustic bridge on theother side, and from the lighted distance, glittering with many coloured lanterns, came a woman’s voice singing a passionate love-song. “This is fairy-land !” whispered Delia Dash did not answer, but he held Delia’s hand in his and they walked side by side, spell-bound by the magic of the place. The song was drawing to a close, and' the rich contralto throbbed across thewater in a low, pleading cry, and died out into nothingness. They went on in silence for some moments, and then Dash said, “ Dearest, that song makes me sad. It makes we feel what sordid, worldly creatures we are, struggling for fame and money! I should like to give up everything—my profession and that hateful betting—and live on what we have got, in a tiny cottage by the Cornish sea!” “You have put your hand to theplough !” said Delia. “ Oh, yes; I know, and I shall not turn back; but still, it seems to be waste of life to spend all the time that we might be passing in God’s sunshine, cooped up in dusty chambers waiting for briefs which come so slowly!” “ You ought not to complain, Dash; you have had a good many briefs lately. ’ “I don’t complain, darling; I think I have been very lucky lately, thanks tothe advertisement that libel case gave me; but still, I wish we could be married.”

“ Has Mr. Twitterton told you that he is going to take silk?” asked Delia. “No! When did you hear that?”

“Mrs. Baines told me to-day; and she said that it would make a great difference to your prospects, Dash, dear.” “By Jingo!” exclaimed Dash. “I should think it would! The only thing is, I wish I had had a few years more practice first. I don’t know whether solicitors will send me big cases at my age.”

“ Mrs. Baines said they would, and' that Mr. Twitterton would tell themthey were to,” Delia replied.

“ Well,” said Dash, “ if they send me a quarter of the work they have been sending to Twitterton, it will mean a good bit over two thousand a year! Why, if I were making that I should not be afraid to go to your father and ask for you.” “ And he would give me to vou, Dash; but still, capital is useful, and we must win the Cambridgeshire with Fortuna filly, so as to be quite independent.” “And then give up gambling!” said Dash. “ Yes; but keep a few mares and breed foals for dad to run. We will make him buy our yearlings!” “Now, then, you young people,” called Mrs. Baines; “it is time we went home, come along!” So they went back to the crowd and the lanterns, and having told the portly hall porter to call the carriage, they were soon all seated in the open landau and rolling over Hammersmith Bridge on their way to Chester Square. CHAPTER XXV. “ B-EBNCASILIEB doctor.” The London season, with its whirl of gaiety, came to an end with the beginning of Goodwood week, and there was a great exodus of the votaries of fashion to the Sussex downs. Sir Robert and Delia stayed for the meeting with some friends, the Govetts, near Chichester; but Dash, on account of the possibility of his being required at charters, had to do the journey every day by train from London to Drayton, where he had a hansom waiting to carry him up to the racecourse, and bring him back again in time to catch the special train to town. The Cottington stable had won five races in the first three days, and Dash had backed each winner well, so that he was having a very good meeting. It happened that, on the Friday, Dash was the only occupant of the railway carriage until he reached a junction a few miles from Gatherstone, and there, on the platform, he saw Joe Tritton, also on his way to Goodwood, and beckoned to him to get in. Joe quickly accepted the invitation, and seated himself opposite to Dash as the train moved on again. “ I am glad to have this opportunity of speaking to you, sir,” said Tritton. “ I wanted to have a chat about your filly.” “ Oh, yes; how is she?” asked Dash. “ She is very well, and has grown and let down a good bit since I have had her. I looked about for a horse to lead her, and I found they wanted to sell old Berncastler out of Fenner’s stable; or at any rate, they were willing to with him at a price.” “How much do they want for him?” .asked Dash. “ Three hundred and fifty pounds. That is with his engagement in a mile race at Brighton next week, which looks almost at his mercy, and would bring £lOO back, if he won it.” “ 1 am quite willing to buy the horse, if you want him,” said Dash. “ Well, sir, I do want him; for, as I told you in my letter, I have nothing in my stable to lead the filly. You see, I have not long been settled at Poledown, for I came back from France only two years ago, after the death of Baron de la Pelouse, for whom I was private trainer; and my employers, who have only two •or three horses each, would naturally not allow me to use them up in leading work for your mare. And, besides, I make it a rule not to mention the work that a horse belonging to one of my owners is doing to any of the others, so that I could not ask anyone to assist in preparing your mare by letting me use his horse.” “Of course not,” agreed Dash, “ I quite feel that; and you had better buy Berncastler Doctor.” “ Very good, sir. I will see Fenner at Goodwood to-day, and tell him to send the horse over in the morning. His stable is only three milts from Poledown.” “ And I will give you a cheque for £350 to pay him with,” said Dash. “ Thank you; any time will do for that. But there are one or two other things I wanted to see you about. Have you registered an assumed name yet? You see if Berncastler Doctor is to run next week for you, you ought to register your assumed name at once.” “ All right. I will go to Weatherby’s to-morrow and do it. lam going to call myself ‘ Mr. Chambers,’ as I told you.” “ Then there is an account to be onened at Weatherby’s; you will find it convenient to have an account there.” “What for?” asked Dash. “I am quite ready to open an account there, but I want to know what good it is.”

“ Well, if you have an account at Weatherby’s, they pay your stakes when you run a horse, without the bether of your having to pay the entry at the

scales; and they receive your winnings for you when you win a race.” “ I will attend to that to-morrow, then,” said Dash; “but here we are at Drayton. I can give you a lift, as I have got a hansom here.” And Dash led the way out of the station and about a hundred yards up the road, to where a smart London hansom, with a good-looking and blood-like bay mare between the shafts, and a sporting young cabby on the box? in a white hat and grey dust coat, with a bunch of geraniums in the buttonhole, was drawn up on the grass by the roadside, waiting for him.

“ Jump in,” said Dash. Mr. Joe Tritton did as he was desired, and Dash followed him, and they set off along the pretty roads, now dusty, and full of traffic, towards the high chalk hills on the top of which is the celebrated Goodwood racecourse.

They bowled along through the duke’s park, and took matters steadily on the steep ascent which leads upward to the Birdless Grove, and watched the heavy omnibuses with their sweltering loads of humanity grinding laboriously up the precipitous incline, their weary cattle being assisted by trace-horses, mounted by swarthy gipsy lads, who, as soon as they had helped one ponderous vehicle to the top, turned and galloped down the grassy slopes to hitch on to the next carriage whose driver was willing to enlist their services.

At length they reached the grandstand, and Tritton went to the paddock, whilst Dash made his way to the lawn, in search of Dash and Delia. He found Delia and Sir Robert seated at a table under the trees, with Mr. and Mrs. Govett, Mrs. Vasher Baines, and the rest of the Govetts’ narty, and he was soon engaged in stowing away prawns in aspic and pigeon pie at an alarming rate. “ Where are you going for the summer. Sir Robert?” asked Mrs. Baines. “ Oh, I am going to Aix-les-Bains with Lord Thistleton; we want a thorough wash and brush up,” answered the baronet, “ but I don’t know whether Delia will care for it.” “Why not let Delia come with me?” suggested Mrs. Baines. “ I am going to North Berwick for a fortnight, and then on to St. Andrews.” “ Delia can go if she likes. I think it would be a very good plan,” said Sir Robert. “ I should love to go with Laura,” said Delia. “ Very well, then, that is settled. Thistleton and I start next Tuesday.” “ I shall stop in London for another fortnight, and then I am going to Scotland with Twitterton,” said Dash. “ What are you going to do after Doncaster, Dashwood?” asked Sir Robert. “ I have not made any plans so far ahead, Sir Robert,” answered Dash. “ You had better come and stay with us at Oakwood, then, and help me to kill the partridges,” said the baronet, genially. “Nothing I should like better!” answered Dash. “ Very well, then, book that—the Monday after the St. Leger I shall hope to see you. But does Twitterton .shoot? I should like him to come with you, if he would care to.” “ I expect he would be delighted; I will ask him when I get back to town, and let you know.” This arrangement suited Delia extremely well, for she had not been looking forward with any pleasure to going to Aix-les-Bains with her father, and she determined that the particular spot in Scotland whither Dash and Twittertou should betake themselves should be St. Andrews; and, a little later on, when she was alone with Dash in the paddock, she confided to Dash that she would like them to go to the old Scotch University city, and that she was rroing to ask Mrs. Baines to go to Oakwood afterwards, for the shooting, so that they might have a jolly party there. Then Dash told her that he had bought Berncastler Doctor, and that he was to run at Brighton. “What colours will he run in?” she asked, much interested. “I forgot that! We must choose some colours.” “ Let me see,” Delia said, “ I think bronze, with French grey sleeves and a red cap would look pretty; you must have colours which you can distinguish at a distance, and a red cap is always a help.” “Very well, we will decide on those. I will register them when T rro to Weatherby’s. but I doubt whether T shall be able to get them made in time for Tuesdav.” “ It does not matter about that reallv. Perhaps it would he nicer if Berncastler Doctor ran in his trainer’s colours, so that the Fortuna filly’s jockey may have a brand new jacket when she runs.” (To be continued )