"I'll take the odds against Caravan."
"In poneys?"
"Done."
And Lord Milford, a young noble, entered in his book the bet
which he had just made with Mr Latour, a grey headed member of
the Jockey Club.
It was the eve of the Derby of 1837. In a vast and golden
saloon, that in its decorations would have become, and in its
splendour would not have disgraced, Versailles in the days of
the grand monarch, were assembled many whose hearts beat at
the thought of the morrow, and whose brains still laboured to
control its fortunes to their advantage.
"They say that Caravan looks puffy," lisped in a low voice a
young man, lounging on the edge of a buhl table that had once
belonged to a Mortemart, and dangling a rich cane with
affected indifference in order to conceal his anxiety from
all, except the person whom he addressed.
"They are taking seven to two against him freely over the
way," was the reply. "I believe it's all right."
"Do you know I dreamed last night something about Mango," continued the gentleman with the cane, and with a look of uneasy superstition.
His companion shook his head.
"Well," continued the gentleman with the cane, "I have no
opinion of him. I gave Charles Egremont the odds against
Mango this morning; he goes with us, you know. By the bye, who is our fourth?"
"I thought of Milford," was the reply in an under tone. "What
say you?"
"Milford is going with St James and Punch Hughes."
"Well, let us come into supper, and we shall see some fellow
we like."
So saying, the companions, taking their course through more
than one chamber, entered an apartment of less dimensions than
the principal saloon, but not less sumptuous in its general
appearance. The gleaming lustres poured a flood of soft yet
brilliant light over a plateau glittering with gold plate, and
fragrant with exotics embedded in vases of rare porcelain. The seats on each side of the table were occupied by persons consuming, with a heedless air, delicacies for which they had no appetite; while the conversation in general consisted of flying phrases referring to the impending event of the great day that had already dawned.
"Come from Lady St Julian's, Fitz?" said a youth of very
tender years, and whose fair visage was as downy and as
blooming as the peach from which with a languid air he
withdrew his lips to make this inquiry of the gentleman with
the cane.
"Yes; why were not you there?"
"I never go anywhere," replied the melancholy Cupid, "everything bores me so."
"Well, will you go to Epsom with us to-morrow, Alfred?" said
Lord Fitzheron. "I take Berners and Charles Egremont, and
with you our party will be perfect."
"I feel so cursed blas!" exclaimed the boy in a tone of
elegant anguish.
"It will give you a fillip, Alfred," said Mr Berners; "do you
all the good in the world."
"Nothing can do me good," said Alfred, throwing away his
almost untasted peach, "I should be quite content if anything
could do me harm. Waiter, bring me a tumbler of Badminton."
"And bring me one too," sighed out Lord Eugene De Vere, who
was a year older than Alfred Mountchesney, his companion and
brother in listlessness. Both had exhausted life in their
teens, and all that remained for them was to mourn, amid the
ruins of their reminiscences, over the extinction of
excitement.
"Well, Eugene, suppose you come with us." said Lord
Fitzheron.
"I think I shall go down to Hampton Court and play tennis," said Lord Eugene. "As it is the Derby, nobody will be there."
"And I will go with you, Eugene," said Alfred Mountchesney, "and we will dine together afterwards at the Toy. Anything is better than dining in this infernal London."
"Well, for my part," said Mr Berners. "I do not like your
suburban dinners. You always get something you can't eat, and
cursed bad wine."
"I rather like bad wine," said Mr Mountchesney; "one gets so
bored with good wine."
"Do you want the odds against Hybiscus, Berners?" said a
guardsman looking up from his book, which he had been very
intently studying.
"All I want is some supper, and as you are not using your
place—"
"You shall have it. Oh! here's Milford, he will give them
me."