"And you never thought of writing to me about it! I could have 'ad thirty to one off Bill Short. One pound ten to a bob! And yer never thought it worth while to send me the tip. I'm blowed! Girls aren't worth a damn.... Thirty to one off Bill Short--he'd have laid it. I remember seeing the price quoted in all the papers. Thirty to one taken and hoffered. If you had told me all yer knowed I might 'ave gone 'alf a quid--fifteen pun to 'alf a quid! as much as I'd earn in three months slaving eight and ten hours a day, paint-pot on 'and about them blooming engines. Well, there's no use crying over what's done--sich a chance won't come again, but something else may. What are they going to do with the 'orse this autumn--did yer 'ear that?" "I think I 'eard that he was entered for the Cambridgeshire, but if I remember rightly, Mr. Leopold--that's the butler, not his real name, but what we call him--" "Ah, yes; I know; after the Baron. Now what do 'e say? I reckon 'e knows. I should like to 'ave 'alf-an-hour's talk with your Mr. Leopold. What do 'e say? For what 'e says, unless I'm pretty well mistaken, is worth listening to. A man wouldn't be a-wasting 'is time in listening to 'im. What do 'e say?" "Mr. Leopold never says much. He's the only one the Gaffer ever confides in. 'Tis said they are as thick as thieves, so they say. Mr. Leopold was his confidential servant when the Gaffer--that's the squire--was a bachelor." Jim chuckled. "Yes, I think I know what kind of man your Mr. Leopold is like. But what did 'e say about the Cambridgeshire?" "He only laughed a little once, and said he didn't think the 'orse would do much good in the autumn races--no, not races, that isn't the word." "Handicaps?" "Yes, that's it. But there's no relying on what Mr. Leopold says--he never says what he really means. But I 'eard William, that's the footman--" "What are you stopping for? What did yer 'ear 'im say?" "That he intends to have something on next spring." "Did he say any race? Did he say the City and Sub.?" "Yes, that was the race he mentioned." "I thought that would be about the length and the breadth of it," Jim said, as he took up his knife and fork. There was only a small portion of the beef-steak left, and this he ate gluttonously, and, finishing the last remaining beer, he leaned back in the happiness of repletion. He crammed tobacco into a dirty clay, with a dirtier finger-nail, and said-- "I'd be uncommon glad to 'ear how he is getting on. When are you going back? Up for the day only?" Esther did not answer, and Jim looked inquiringly as he reached across the table for the matches. The decisive moment had arrived, and Mrs. Saunders said-- "Esther ain't a-going back; leastways--" "Not going back! You don't mean that she ain't contented in her situation--that she 'as--" "Esther ain't going back no more," Mrs. Saunders answered, incautiously. "Look ee 'ere, Jim--"