'Quite well, sir,' said the Duke in his quietest tone, but with an air
which, he flattered himself, might repress further inquiry.
'Has he got over his fatigue?' pursued the dogged Baronet, with a short,
gritty laugh, that sounded like a loose drag-chain dangling against the
stones. 'We all thought the Yorkshire air would not agree with him.'
'Yet, Sir Chetwode, that could hardly be your opinion of Sanspareil,'
said Miss Dacre, 'for I think, if I remember right, I had the pleasure
of making you encourage our glove manufactory.'
Sir Chetwode looked a little confused. The Duke of St. James, inspirited
by his fair ally, rallied, and hoped Sir Chetwode did not back his steed
to a fatal extent. 'If,' continued he, 'I had had the slightest idea
that any friend of Miss Dacre was indulging in such an indiscretion, I
certainly would have interfered, and have let him known that the horse
was not to win.'
'Is that a fact?' asked Sir Tichborne Tichborne of Tichborne, with a
sturdy voice.
'Can a Yorkshireman doubt it?' rejoined the Duke. 'Was it possible for
anyone but a mere Newmarket dandy to have entertained for a moment the
supposition that anyone but May Dacre should be the Queen of the St.
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