CHAPTER XVI
The Message from Cloostedd
"Come back, Feltram; come back, Philip!" cried Sir Bale hastily. "Let us talk, can't we? Come and talk this odd business over a little; you must have mistaken what I meant; I should like to hear all about it."
"All is not much, sir," said Philip Feltram, entering the room again, the door of which he had half closed after him. "In the forest of Cloostedd I met to-day some people, one of whom can foretell events, and told me the names of the winners of the first three races at Heckleston, and gave me this purse, with leave to lend you so much money as you care to stake upon the races. I take no security; you shan't be troubled; and you'll never see the lender, unless you seek him out."
"Well, those are not bad terms," said Sir Bale, smiling wistfully at the purse, which Feltram had again placed upon the table.
"No, not bad," repeated Feltram, in the harsh low tone in which he now habitually spoke.
"You'll tell me what the prophet said about the winners; I should like to hear their names."
"The names I shall tell you if you walk out with me," said Feltram.
"Why not here?" asked Sir Bale.