not an answer to any that he had received. He wrote it carefully and
thoughtfully, and when it was written sealed it. For in Warsaw it
is well to seal such letters as are not intended to be read at the
post-office. And if one expects letters of importance, it is wiser not
to have them sent to Poland at all, for the post-office authorities
are kind enough to exercise a parental censorship over the travellers'
correspondence.

Cartoner's letter was addressed to an English gentleman at his country
house in Sussex, and it asked for an immediate recall from Poland. It
was a confession, for the first time, that the mission entrusted to him
was more than he could undertake.




XII

CARTONER _VERSUS_ FATE

It has been said that on the turf, and under it, all men are equal. It
is, moreover, whispered that the crooked policy of Russia forwards the
cause of horseracing at Warsaw by every means within its power, on the
theory that even warring nationalities may find themselves reconciled
by a common sport. And this dream of peace, pursued by the successor
of that Czar who said to Poland: "Gentlemen--no dreams," seems in part
justified by the undeniable fact that Russians and Poles find themselves
brought nearer together on the race-course than in any other social
function in Warsaw.