In a lower voice Mona continued: "I don't know what possessed me, but
perhaps it was that the things he did of which I disapproved most had got
a hold on me in spite of myself. I said to myself: 'I am going to the
Derby. I will take the fifty pounds, and I'll put it on a horse for
Shiel.' He had talked so much to my brother about Flamingo, and I had
seen him go wrong so often, that I had a feeling if I put it on a horse
that Shiel particularly banned, it would probably win. He had been wrong
nearly every time for two years. It was his money, and if it won, it
would make him happy; and if it didn't win, well, he didn't know the
money existed--I was sure of that; and, anyhow, I could replace it. I
put it on a horse he condemned utterly, but of which one or two people
spoke well. You know what happened to Flamingo. While at Epsom I heard
from friends that Shiel was present at the race, though he had said he
would not go. Later I learned that he had lost heavily. Then I saw him
in the distance paying out money and giving bills to the bookmakers. It
made me very angry. I don't think I was quite sane. Most women are like
that at times."
"As I said," remarked the Young Doctor, his face mirthfully alive. Here
was a situation indeed.
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