Ouida - Under Two Flags стр 7.

Of course he will, chorused half a dozen voices.

With all our pots on him, added the Seraph. Hes too much of a gentleman to put us all up a tree; he knows he carries the honor of the Household.

There are some good mounts, theres no denying that, said Chesterfield of the Blues (who was called Tom for no other reason than that it was entirely unlike his real name of Adolphus), where he was curled up almost invisible, except for the movement of the jasmine stick of his chibouque. That brute, Day Star, is a splendid fencer, and for a brook jumper, it would be heard to best Wild Geranium, though her shoulders are not quite what they ought to be. Montacute, too, can ride a good thing, and hes got one in Pas de Charge.

Im not much afraid of Monti, he makes too wild a burst first; he never saves on atom, yawned Cecil, with the coils of his hookah bubbling among the rose-water; the man Im afraid of is that fellow from the Tenth; hes as light as a feather and as hard as steel. I watched him yesterday going over the water, and the horse hell ride for Trelawney is good enough to beat even the King if hes properly piloted.

You havent kept yourself in condition, Beauty, growled Tom, with the chibouque in his mouth, else nothing could give you the go-by. Its tempting Providence to go in for the Gilt Vase after such a December and January as you spent in Paris. Even the week youve been in the Shires you havent trained a bit; youve been waltzing or playing baccarat till five in the morning, and taking no end of sodas after to bring you right for the meet at nine. If a man will drink champagnes and burgundies as you do, and spend his time after women, I should like to know how hes to be in hard riding condition, unless he expects a miracle.

With which Chesterfield, who weighed fourteen stone himself, and was, therefore, out of all but welter-races, and wanted a weight-carrier of tremendous power even for them, subsided under a heap of velvet and cashmere, and Cecil laughed; lying on a divan just under one of the gas branches, the light fell full on his handsome face, with its fair hue and its gentle languor on which there was not a single trace of the outrecuidance attributed to him. Both he and the Seraph could lead the wildest life of any men in Europe without looking one shadow more worn than the brightest beauty of the season, and could hold wassail in riotous rivalry till the sun rose, and then throw themselves into saddle as fresh as if they had been sound asleep all night; to keep up with the pack the whole day in a fast burst or on a cold scent, or in whatever sport Fortune and the coverts gave them, till their second horses wound their way homeward through muddy, leafless lanes, when the stars had risen.

Beauty dont believe in training. No more do I. Never would train for anything, said the Seraph now, pulling the long blond mustaches that were not altogether in character with his seraphic cognomen. If a man can ride, let him. If hes born to the pigskin hell be in at the distance safe enough, whether he smokes or dont smoke, drink or dont drink. As for training on raw chops, giving up wine, living like the very deuce and all, as if you were in a monastery, and changing yourself into a mere bag of bonesits utter bosh. You might as well be in purgatory; besides, its no more credit to win then than if you were a professional.

But you must have trained at Christ Church, Rock, for the Eight? asked another Guardsman, Sir Vere Bellingham; Severe, as he was christened, chiefly because he was the easiest-going giant in existence.

Did I! men came to me; wanted me to join the Eight; coxswain came, awful strict little fellow, docked his men of all their funtook plenty himself though! Coxswain said I must begin to train, do as all his crew did. I threw up my sleeve and showed him my arm; and the Seraph stretched out an arm magnificent enough for a statue of Milo. I said, there, sir, Ill help you thrash Cambridge, if you like, but train I wont for you or for all the University. Ive been Captain of the Eton Eight; but I didnt keep my crew on tea and toast. I fattened em regularly three times a week on venison and champagne at Christophers. Very happy to feed yours, too, if you like; game comes down to me every Friday from the Dukes moors; they look uncommonly as if they wanted it! You should have seen his face!fatten the Eight! He didnt let me do that, of course; but he was very glad of my oar in his rowlocks, and I helped him beat Cambridge without training an hour myself, except so far as rowing hard went.

And the Marquis of Rockingham, made thirsty by the recollection, dipped his fair mustaches into a foaming seltzer.

Quite right, Seraph! said Cecil; when a man comes up to the weights, looking like a homunculus, after hes been getting every atom of flesh off him like a jockey, he ought to be struck out for the stakes, to my mind. Tisnt a question of riding, then, nor yet of pluck, or of management; its nothing but a question of pounds, and of who can stand the tamest life the longest.

Well, beneficial for ones morals, at any rate, suggested Sir Vere.

Morals be hanged! said Bertie, very immorally. Im glad you remind us of them, Vere; youre such a quintessence of decorum and respectability yourself! I sayanybody know anything of this fellow of the Tenth thats to ride Trelawneys chestnut?

Jimmy Delmar! Oh, yes; I know Jimmy, answered Lord Cosmo Wentworth, of the Scots Fusileers, from the far depths of an arm-chair. Knew him at Aldershot. Fine rider; give you a good bit of trouble, Beauty. Hasnt been in England for years; troop been such a while at Calcutta. The Fancy take to him rather; offering very freely on him this morning in the village; and hes got a rare good thing in the chestnut.

Not a doubt of it. The White Lily blood, out of that Irish mare DOrleans Diamonds, too.

Never mind! Tenth wont beat us. The Household will win safe enough, unless Forest King goes and breaks his back over Brixwortheh, Beauty? said the Seraph, who believed devoutly in his comrade, with all the loving loyalty characteristic of the House of Lyonnesse, that to monarchs and to friends had often cost it very dear.

You put your faith in the wrong quarter, Rock; I may fail you, he never will, said Cecil, with ever so slight a dash of sadness in his words; the thought crossed him of how boldly, how straightly, how gallantly the horse always breasted and conquered his difficultiesdid he himself deal half so well with his own?

Well! you both of you carry all our money and all our credit; so for the fair fame of the Household do all you know. I havent hedged a shilling, not laid off a farthing, Bertie; I stand on you and the King, and nothing elsesee what a sublime faith I have in you.

I dont think youre wise then, Seraph; the field will be very strong, said Cecil languidly. The answer was indifferent, and certainly thankless; but under his drooped lids a glance, frank and warm, rested for the moment on the Seraphs leonine strength and Raphaelesque head; it was not his way to say it, or to show it, or even much to think it; but in his heart he loved his old friend wonderfully well.

And they talked on of little else than of the great steeple-chase of the Service, for the next hour in the Tabak-Parliament, while the great clouds of scented smoke circled heavily round; making a halo of Turkish above the gold locks of the Titanic Seraph, steeping Chesterfields velvets in strong odors of Cavendish, and drifting a light rose-scented mist over Berties long, lithe limbs, light enough and skilled enough to disdain all training for the weights.