Page:Edgar Jepson--the four philanthropists.djvu/146

138 hanged if ever I play with the old idiot again!" he said.

Suddenly I saw Bottiger's honest English face brighten with an almost continental intelligence, and he said to Noel, with a curious eager air, "The old man is breaking up fast."

"Breaking up fast!" cried Noel. "He's as strong as a horse!"

"He's not long for this world; he has changed very much lately," said Bottiger obstinately.

"Rubbish!" cried Noel. "I never saw him look better. He—he's good for—for another twenty years!"

"He won't be alive three months from to-day," said Bottiger, looking more like an aggravating mule than a fine upstanding young Englishman.

The exasperated Noel snorted like a war-horse in his wrath. "Look here!" he cried. "I—I'll bet you five thousand to a tenner that he is!"

"Done!" said Bottiger quietly. "Let's see—to-day's the twenty-fifth, isn't it!" And he entered the bet in his betting book.

"When you two have quite finished, we might play bridge," said the man whom Sir Reginald had cut out of the table.

We began another rubber.

I had not paid any great attention to the bet. Men are always making silly bets, and Bottiger will bet about anything. But I observed that he