In any case, he drank, and a minor man gave him the dog's licking.. 'Went into it puffy, came out of it bunged,' the chronicle resounding over England ran. Old England read of an 'eyeless carcase' heroically stepping up to time for three rounds of mashing punishment. If he had won the day after all, the country would have been electrified. It sympathized on the side of his backers too much to do more than nod a short approval of his fortitude. To sink with flag flying is next to sinking the enemy. There was talk of a girl present at the fight, and of how she received the eyeless, almost faceless, carcase of her sweetheart Kit, and carried him away in a little donkey-cart, comfortably cushioned to meet disaster. This petty incident drew the attention of the Earl of Fleetwood, then beginning to be known as the diamond of uncounted facets, patron of the pick of all departments of manly activity in England. The devotion of the girl Madge to her sweetheart was really a fine story. Fleetwood touched on it to Mr. Mallard, speaking of it like the gentleman he could be, while Chumley Potts wagged impatient acquiescence in a romantic episode of the Ring, that kept the talk from the hotter theme. 'Money's Bank of England to-day, you think?' he interposed, and had his answer after Mallard had said: 'The girl 's rather good-looking, too.' 'You may double your bets, Chummy. I had the fellow to his tea at my dinner-table yesterday evening; locked him in his bedroom, and had him up and out for a morning spin at six. His trainer, Flipper's on the field, drove from Esslemont at nine, confident as trumps.' 'Deuce of a good-looking girl,' Potts could now afford to say; and he sang out: 'Feel fit, lucky dog?' 'Concert pitch!' was the declaration of Kit Ives. 'How about Lord Brailstone's man?' 'Female partner in a quadrille, sir.' 'Ah!' Potts doated on his limbs with a butcher's eye for prize joints. 'Cock-sure has crowed low by sunset,' Mallard observed. Fleetwood offered him to take his bets. 'You're heavy on it with Brailstone?' said Mallard. 'Three thousand.' 'I'd back you for your luck blindfold.' A ruffle of sourness shot over the features of the earl, and was noticed by both eager betters, who exchanged a glance. Potts inspected his watch, and said half aloud: 'Liver, ten to one! That never meant bad luck--except bad to act on. We slept here last night, you know. It 's a mile and a quarter from the Royal Sovereign to the field of glory. Pretty well time to start. Brailstone has a drive of a couple of miles. Coaches from London down by this time. Abrane's dead on Ben Todds, any odds. Poor old Braney! "Steady man, Todds." Backs him because he's a "respectable citizen,"--don't drink. A prize-fighter total abstainer has no spurts. Old Braney's branded for the losing side. You might bet against Braney blindfold, Mallard. How long shall you take to polish him off, Kit Ines?' The opponent of Ben Todds calculated.