"I thought your honor was playing for another stake in that quarter?"
"And if I am?"
"Why, I just thought it was a queer way of gaining the old gentleman's good will—that thing of taking his horse."
"Not so queer as you might think for."
"Oh! I remember now; excuse me; this Hadley was to be made the scapegoat; you were to get a horse and have the blame of the theft thrown on a rival, whose non-appearance should condemn him. I see it all now, though I did not perceive this delicate undercurrent in the plan of affairs. Lieutenant Duffel against the world, I say!"
"Silence! Dick, you are familiar with Mr. Mandeville's premises, I believe?"
"Yes, tolerably so."
"Well, I want you to bring Tom here in about half an hour; and do the job up nicely, too."
"I'll try, sir."
"You must do it. Be quick; it is going to rain soon, and we must get him away before the tracks will show; but don't so much as disturb the sleeping grasshoppers by your noise."