The sporting chance

								

Cup.  And later"--his voice trembled--"I asked other people if they
could tell me.  I asked Lord Caldershot, and he just stared at me
through that beastly eye-glass of his and turned away.  And then I
asked Miss Armitage, to whom I had just been introduced.  I couldn't
make out why she laughed at me.  I was a fool to come to the races at
all!" he ended, miserably.
He had come full of enthusiasm, and at a personal risk of which none
but he himself knew the full measure, so his sense of wrong was all
the more acute.  Nor was he easily appeased, though both Pierce
Trelawny and Anthony Royce did their best to make light of the
incident.
"It was too bad of Armitage to pull your leg," Royce said feelingly.
"I'll have a word with him on the subject.  But in the meanwhile
forget all about it, my boy, and enjoy your day."
Anthony Royce had shown himself very well disposed towards Mostyn on
the way down, fully appreciative of the young man's enthusiasm as
well as his ignorance, and it was due to him that Captain Armitage,
who had evinced an inclination to continue the "leg-pulling" sport,
had been finally silenced.
It was by Royce's own wish that he had taken a seat at the back of
the coach, giving up his place in the front to the fair-haired youth,
Lord Caldershot, gorgeous with eye-glass and button-hole, who had
immediately appropriated Rada Armitage as his particular property for
the day.  They had already established themselves in the front when
Mostyn clambered up at the back, and they were laughing together,
their eyes turned upon him.  He was sure, even then, that he was the
object of their laughter.  He had taken a dislike to the girl, though
he could have given no reason for the feeling.
For he had recognised--he could not fail to recognise--that Rada was
young--she could not have been much over twenty--high-spirited, and
good to look at.  Unfortunately he was always a little diffident and
shy with strange girls--qualities that were not really natural to
him, but which were the result of his home training--and he had not
shown himself at his best that morning.  Of course, matters had not
been improved when she laughed at him, apparently without cause.
When he mounted the coach his one wish was that the Armitages had
been left out of the party altogether.  He was struck by the contrast
between Royce and the captain.  The former was evidently strong and
masterful, possessed of a will of iron, while the latter was
bombastic, given to swagger, and totally lacking in repose.  He was
never still for a moment: he would shuffle his feet and fidget with
his hands; he would spring up from his seat and then immediately sit
down again; he would wave his arms and strike attitudes.  His voice
was now raised to a shout, now lowered to a whisper, hardly ever even
in tone.  Sometimes he would break out into snatches of song,
particularly aggravating, since it usually occurred when he was being