Edgar Wallace

“ She hoped, or feared, to see Brian Pallard, but she was disappointed—or relieved—to find he was absent. As if guessing her thoughts, Pinlow turned to her.
“You won’t see Pallard here; he doesn’t come racing for the fun of it, you know. With him ‘it’s your money we want’.” ”

“ Mr Callander smiled. “Gladys and I were saying,” he said, “that if you wanted a thing, we did not doubt that you would get it.”
As a matter of fact, Gladys had taken a very passive part in the conversation—the part of a listener who was not very greatly interested.
“I am not easily baulked,” admitted Pinlow modestly.
He told them what he had learnt, and the girl was all attention in an instant.
“As soon as they start betting,” said Pinlow, “I shall step in and take the cream.”
“But how will that affect Mr Pallard?” she asked.
“Well,” he smiled, “he will have to take what I leave.” ”

“ Well, to put it briefly, he will wait till a market is primed for something else, then he will step in and back his own horse at a good price.”
“I see,” said Callander, whose Stock Exchange experience enabled him to grasp the significance of the manœuvre. “But, exactly, how can you worry this man Pallard?—and please do not refer to him as my nephew.”
“I can worry him by stealing his market,” replied Pinlow, smiling; “whilst he is waiting for the psychological moment my commissioners will step in and back it. By the way, you have never been on a racecourse?” ”

“ Mr Callander was ruffled by the rudeness of the interruption, and showed it.
“After all,” Pinlow went on, “we’re men of the world: Est modus in rebus, as dear old Horace said, eh? You needn’t approve of everything you witness. Come down to Windsor on Saturday and approve of that infernal brute’s discomfiture.”
Pinlow left Hill View that night, having extracted a half-promise that the immaculate Mr Callander would, for the first time in his life, visit a racecourse.
“And bring Gladys,” he said, as a brilliant afterthought. ”

“ All this sort of thing bored her, so she told herself, but in truth she was interested; interested in the beautiful horses that seemed to be on springs as they prinked and pranced or went bounding over the soft turf on their way to the post. ”

“ Pinlow nodded.
“Nobody will bother you,” he said. “You will find your brother there.”
She tripped down the steps of the stand with a heart that beat rapidly. She crossed the slip of lawn that separates the paddock from the members’ enclosure and passed through the gates. Would she find Brian there?She had an idea that this was the most likely place. She walked about the paddock like a lost sheep—so she told herself. There were little groups of men round each horse, watching the saddling operations. Suddenly she came upon Brian and stopped dead. ”