"You"ll not find him, then; and he wants his money. It would be a pity to vex him."
"It was to you he lent the money," said Sir Bale.
"Yes."
"Well, you are the proper person to find him out and pay him," urged Sir Bale.
"Perhaps so; but he invites you; and if you don"t go, he may be offended, and you may hear no more from him."
"We"ll try. When can you go? There are races to come off next week, for once and away, at Langton. I should not mind trying my luck there. What do you say?
"You can go there and pay him, and ask the same question--what horses, I mean, are to win. All the county are to be there; and plenty of money will change hands."
"I"ll try," said Feltram.
"When will you go?"
"To-morrow," he answered.
"I have an odd idea, Feltram, that you are really going to pay off those cursed mortgages."
He laid his hand with at least a gesture of kindness on the thin arm of Feltram, who coldly answered,
"So have I;" and walked down the side of the little knoll and away, without another word or look.
CHAPTER XVIII
On the Lake, at Last
Next day Philip Feltram crossed the lake; and Sir Bale, seeing the boat on the water, guessed its destination, and watched its progress with no little interest, until he saw it moored and its sail drop at the rude pier that affords a landing at the Clough of Feltram. He was now satisfied that Philip had actually gone to seek out the "cunning man,"
and gather hints for the next race.
When that evening Feltram returned, and, later still, entered Sir Bale"s library, the master of Mard.y.k.es was gladder to see his face and more interested about his news than he would have cared to confess.
Philip Feltram did not affect unconsciousness of that anxiety, but, with great directness, proceeded to satisfy it.
"I was in Cloostedd Forest to-day, nearly all day--and found the old gentleman in a wax. He did not ask me to drink, nor show me any kindness. He was huffed because you would not take the trouble to cross the lake to speak to him yourself. He took the money you sent him and counted it over, and dropped it into his pocket; and he called you hard names enough and to spare; but I brought him round, and at last he did talk."
"And what did he say?"
"He said that the estate of Mard.y.k.es would belong to a Feltram."
"He might have said something more likely," said Sir Bale sourly. "Did he say anything more?"
"Yes. He said the winner at Langton Lea would be Silver Bell."
"Any other name?"
"No."
"Silver Bell? Well, that"s not so odd as the last. Silver Bell stands high in the list. He has a good many backers--long odds in his favour against most of the field. I should not mind backing Silver Bell."
The fact is, that he had no idea of backing any other horse from the moment he heard the soothsayer"s prediction. He made up his mind to no half measures this time. He would go in to win something handsome.
He was in great force and full of confidence on the race-course. He had no fears for the result. He bet heavily. There was a good margin still untouched of the Mard.y.k.es estate; and Sir Bale was a good old name in the county. He found a ready market for his offers, and had soon staked--such is the growing frenzy of that excitement--about twenty thousand pounds on his favourite, and stood to win seven.
He did not win, however. He lost his twenty thousand pounds.
And now the Mard.y.k.es estate was in imminent danger. Sir Bale returned, having distributed I O Us and promissory notes in all directions about him--quite at his wit"s end.
Feltram was standing--as on the occasion of his former happier return--on the steps of Mard.y.k.es Hall, in the evening sun, throwing eastward a long shadow that was lost in the lake. He received him, as before, with a laugh.
Sir Bale was too much broken to resent this laugh as furiously as he might, had he been a degree less desperate.
He looked at Feltram savagely, and dismounted.
"Last time you would not trust him, and this time he would not trust you. He"s huffed, and played you false."
"It was not he. I should have backed that d----d horse in any case,"
said Sir Bale, grinding his teeth. "What a witch you have discovered!
One thing is true, perhaps. If there was a Feltram rich enough, he might have the estate now; but there ain"t. They are all beggars. So much for your conjurer."
"He may make amends to you, if you make amends to him."
"He! Why, what can that wretched impostor do? D--n me, I"m past helping now."
"Don"t you talk so," said Feltram. "Be civil. You must please the old gentleman. He"ll make it up. He"s placable when it suits him. Why not go to him his own way? I hear you are nearly ruined. You must go and make it up."
"Make it up! With whom? With a fellow who can"t make even a guess at what"s coming? Why should I trouble my head about him more?"
"No man, young or old, likes to be frumped. Why did you cross his fancy?
He won"t see you unless you go to him as he chooses."
"If he waits for that, he may wait till doomsday. I don"t choose to go on that water--and cross it I won"t," said Sir Bale.
But when his distracting reminders began to pour in upon him, and the idea of dismembering what remained of his property came home to him, his resolution faltered.
"I say, Feltram, what difference can it possibly make to him if I choose to ride round to Cloostedd Forest instead of crossing the lake in a boat?"
Feltram smiled darkly, and answered.
"I can"t tell. Can you?"
"Of course I can"t--I say I can"t; besides, what audacity of a fellow like that presuming to prescribe to me! Utterly ludicrous! And he can"t predict--do you really think or believe, Feltram, that he can?"