CHAPTER TWOFrom his box at Aintree the Marquis of Midhurst was watching the Grand National horses taking the last fence.
His horse Crusader was well up with the leaders. He was beginning to think he had a good chance of winning the race.
Then, as the first five horses jumped the last fence without a fall, he was aware that Ilex was moving ahead.
He knew all about Ilex, as when almost an unknown horse, he had won the Hunters Steeplechase, on which occasion he fortunately had not been running one of his own horses.
Ilex had been ridden by Arthur Nightingall who the Marquis had marked in his mind as a particularly good jockey.
Ilex, a chestnut, was not an engaging animal with no apparent neck or shoulders and an unusual amount of stomach.
The Marquis had been told at the time of the Ste
