The Lady and the Lord | Page 5

morning. He said that a drive round the countryside would make me fall in love with the country, 'and all that kind of thing.' He said that he wasn't much of a 'dabster' at quoting poetry, but the scenery was 'simply spiffing,' and that was about the most intelligible thing he did say about it.
"He told me that he was down to see his lawyer on business connected with his property in the neighborhood, and that he'd brought his horses with him 'because that man Lewisohn's as slow as a hearse, and he's sure to keep me hangin' about here for the best part of a month.'
"When I discovered that Mr. Lewisohn was his lawyer, too, I had to go up to my room. I wanted to be alone, and laugh, and make a fool of myself.
"Of course, it was a bit early yet to be jubilant, and I still didn't see how I was going to manage. But I knew that a coincidence like that only happens about once in a lifetime, and I knew I'd have brains enough to make use of it when the right time came. But the difficulty was to wait for the right time.
"I was in a desperate hurry, and beginning to get excited, and I knew that if I was to play my cards properly I'd have to let off steam at once. So I went up-stairs and kicked my pillow all round the room for about ten minutes. After that I felt better and went to bed.
"Next morning I told Lord Tipperary what I was in England for--at least, I told him as much as I thought necessary. He seemed to be interested; and when I told him I'd been to Lewisohn, and that I was afraid I wouldn't get the same amount of attention as an old client would have done, he offered to take me round that very afternoon and introduce me to Lewisohn in a proper manner.
"He said: 'Why, he's my lawyer! I'll take you round and tell him you're a friend of mine. He'll look after you, all right. He's as slow as one of his own horses, and he's stagey; but he's honest, and there isn't a better lawyer in England. I borrow money off him when I get broke--that's to say pretty often.'
"So we had lunch together at the hotel, and I took him a little more into my confidence. I didn't tell him that I had only thirty shillings left, though it was a fact; but I did say that I'd be tickled to death to get my business settled up, because I needed the money very badly.
"When I said that he looked at me quite sharply, with his eyebrows raised ever such a little, and I saw that I'd made a mistake. They're not so easy as they look, those English! I suppose that rich English lords have so many people trying to play them for suckers that they get naturally suspicious, anyway. But just as I was thinking that I'd put my foot in it, and had spoiled my only chance, I had an inspiration that was absolutely divine.
"I asked him if he ever gambled; and he said at once that he did. He said he was always gambling, and nearly always losing--backing horses, for the most part--but that he would gamble on almost anything; and he asked me if I knew of anything to gamble on.
"Then I knew that I'd won--all but the shouting. The rest was easy.
"I said that I hadn't ever gambled, which was perfectly true; but I said I was going to begin. He nodded, and said he would stand in with me, because 'beginners' luck always was a good thing to bet on.' He said he didn't care 'a continental ' what it was that I was going to bet about, he was going to 'back me to win.'
"So I told him that that was my reason for being in such a hurry to get some money; I wanted to get the money on before the good thing, was a thing of the past. But I wouldn't tell him what the good thing was. I didn't know yet myself, for one thing. But I had to tell him something.
"Suddenly I remembered a second cousin of mine who used to be secretary, or something like that, in a zinc works at Pittsburgh, and that gave me another idea. Poor old Amos always used to be pestering my cousin at Pittsburgh to give him information so that he could play the market, and the only time he ever did give him any Amos played it and lost. He lost nearly all we had.
"So what I said was that I had received some private information from a man who used to