But I had tasted of so-called independence, and I
could not go back to be at the beck and call of an employer. Ah! no
employer ever made me work so hard as Mr. Elmsdale; no beck and call
were ever so imperative as his.
"I pass over a long time of anxiety, struggle, and hardship. The world
thought me a prosperous man; probably no human being, save Mr. Elmsdale,
understood my real position, and he made my position almost unendurable.
"How I came first to bet on races, would be a long story, longer than I
have time to tell; but my betting began upon a very small scale, and I
always won--always in the beginning. I won so certainly and so
continuously, that finally I began to hope for deliverance from Mr.
Elmsdale's clutches.
"I don't know how"--the narrative was not recited straight on as I am
writing it, but by starts, as strength served him--"Mr. Elmsdale
ascertained I was devoting myself to the turf: all I can say is, he did
ascertain the fact, and followed me down to Ascot to make sure there was
no mistake in his information.
"At the previous Derby my luck had begun to turn. I had lost then--lost
heavily for me, and he taxed me with having done so.
"In equity, and at law, he had then the power of foreclosing on every
house and rood of ground I owned.
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