“Will you make me a bet on it?”
“With all my heart! What shall it be?”
“Lay me a hundred to one, in tens, and I give you my solemn word of honor I 'll do my very best to lose my wager and win the widow.”
“Done! I 'll bet you a thousand pounds to ten; book it, with the date, and I 'll sign it.”
While Agincourt was yet speaking, O'Shea had produced a small note-book, and was recording the bet. Scarcely had he clasped the little volume again, when the waiter entered, and handed him a note.
O'Shea read it rapidly, and, finishing off his glass, refilled and drank it. “I must leave you for half an hour,” said he, hastily. “There's a friend of mine in a bit of a scrape with one of these French officers; but I 'll be back presently.”
“I say, make your man fight. Don't stand any bullying with those fellows.”
O'Shea did not wait for his counsels, but hurried off.
“This way, sir,” whispered a man to him, as he passed out into the court of the hotel; “the carriage is round the corner.”
He followed the man, and in a few minutes found himself in a narrow by-street, where a single carriage was standing. The glass was quietly let down as he drew near, and a voice he had no difficulty in recognizing, said, “I have just received a most urgent letter, and I must leave Rome tomorrow at daybreak, for Germany. I have learned, besides, that Paten is at Baden. He was on his way here, but stopped to try his luck at the tables. He has twice broken the bank, and swears he will not leave till he has succeeded a third time. We all well know how such pledges finish. But you must set off there at once. Leave to-morrow night, if you can, and by the time you arrive, or the day after, you 'll find a letter for you at the post, with my address, and all your future directions. Do nothing with Paten till you hear; mind that,—nothing. I have not time for another word, for I am in terror lest my absence from the house should be discovered. If anything imminent occur, you shall hear by telegraph.”