"That's a fresh hoss you've got, I think, sir," he said. "Yes, I have ridden him two or three times with the harriers; but this is the first time I have had him out with fox-hounds." "He carried you very well in the run, sir." "You are quite right; he did. Very well." "Does he lay hold on you at all, Mr. Bacon?" "Not a bit." "Light in the mouth, a clever jumper, and a free goer." "All three." "Yes, he's the right sort, he is, sir; and if ever you feel disposed to sell him, I could, may be, find you a customer." Accepting this as a delicate intimation that Mr. Fortescue had taken a fancy to the horse and would like to buy him, I told Jim that I was quite willing to sell at a fair price. "And what might you consider a fair price, if it is a fair question?" asked the man. "A hundred guineas," I answered; for, as I knew that Mr. Fortescue would not "look at a horse," as Tawney put it, under that figure, it would have been useless to ask less. "Very well, sir. I will speak to my master, and let you know." Ranger, as I called the horse, was a purchase of Alston's. Liking his looks (though Bertie was really a very indifferent judge), he had bought him out of a hansom-cab for forty pounds, and after a little "schooling," the creature took to jumping as naturally as a duck takes to water. Sixty pounds may seem rather an unconscionable profit, but considering that Ranger was quite sound and up to weight, I don't think a hundred guineas was too much. A dealer would have asked a hundred and fifty. At any rate, Mr. Fortescue did not think it too much, for Rawlings presently brought me word that his master would take the horse at the price I had named, if I could warrant him sound. "In that case it is a bargain," I said, "for I can warrant him sound." "All right, sir. I'll send one of the grooms over to your place for him to-morrow." Shortly afterward I fell in with Keyworth, and as a matter of course we talked about Mr. Fortescue. "Do you know anything about him?" I asked. "Not much. I believe he is rich--and respectable." "That is pretty evident, I think." "I am not sure. A man who spends a good deal of money is presumably rich; but it by no means follows that he is respectable. There are such people in the world as successful rogues and wealthy swindlers. Not that I think Mr. Fortescue is either one or the other. I learned, from the check he sent me for his subscription, who his bankers are, and through a friend of mine, who is intimate with one of the directors, I got a confidential report about him. It does not amount to much; but it is satisfactory so far as it goes. They say he is a man of large fortune, and, as they believe, highly respectable." "Is that all?" "All there was in the report. But Tomlinson--that's my friend--has heard that he has spent the greater part of his life abroad, and that he made his money in South America."