Pomeroy turned on him in surprise as great as his disgust. 'What?' he

cried. 'You would give the girl and her money--fifty thousand--to this

old hunks!' 'I? Not I! I would have her myself!' his lordship answered stoutly.

'Come, Pomeroy, you have won three hundred of me, and if I am not to

take a hand at this, I shall think it low! Monstrous low I shall think

it!' he repeated in the tone of an injured person. 'You know. Pom, I

want money as well as another--want it devilish bad--' 'You have not been a Sabbatarian, as I was for two months last year,'

Mr. Pomeroy retorted, somewhat cooled by this wholesale rising among his

allies, 'and walked out Sundays only for fear of the catchpolls.' 'No, but--' 'But I am not now, either. Is that it? Why, d'ye think, because I

pouched six hundred of Flitney's, and three of yours, and set the mare

going again, it will last for ever?' 'No, but fair's fair, and if I am not in this, it is low. It is low,

Pom,' Lord Almeric continued, sticking to his point with abnormal

spirit. 'And here is Tommy will tell you the same. You have had three

hundred of me--' 'At cards, dear lad; at cards,' Mr. Pomeroy answered easily. 'But this

is not cards. Besides,' he continued, shrugging his shoulders and

pouncing on the argument, 'we cannot all marry the girl!' 'I don't know,' my lord answered, passing his fingers tenderly through

his wig. 'I--I don't commit myself to that.' 'Well, at any rate, we cannot all have the money!' Pomeroy replied,

with sufficient impatience.

'But we can all try! Can't we, Tommy?' Mr. Thomasson's face, when the question was put to him in that form, was

a curious study. Mr. Pomeroy had spoken aright when he called it a

chance in a hundred, in a thousand, in a million. It was a chance, at

any rate, that was not likely to come in Mr. Thomasson's way again.

True, he appreciated more correctly than the others the obstacles in the

way of success--the girl's strong will and wayward temper; but he knew

also the humour which had now taken hold of her, and how likely it was

that it might lead her to strange lengths if the right man spoke at the

right moment.

The very fact that Mr. Pomeroy had seen the chance and gauged the

possibilities, gave them a more solid aspect and a greater reality in

the tutor's mind. Each moment that passed left him less willing to

resign pretensions which were no longer the shadowy creatures of the

brain, but had acquired the aspect of solid claims--claims made his by

skill and exertion.




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