his
possession was that, in some of his lonely wanderings, chance had led
him to the undiscovered hoard of the two Feltrams who had died in the
great civil wars.

"Perhaps those gipsies you speak of found the money where you found
them; and in that case, as Cloostedd Forest, and all that is in it is my
property, their sending it to me is more like my servant's handing me my
hat and stick when I'm going out, than making me a present."

"You will not be wise to rely upon the law, Sir Bale, and to refuse the
help that comes unasked. But if you like your mortgages as they are,
keep them; and if you like my terms as they are, take them; and when you
have made up your mind, let me know."

Philip Feltram dropped the heavy purse into his capacious coat-pocket,
and walked, muttering, out of the room.

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.

"My memory does not serve me here so well. Some people, in some places,
though they be silent, obstruct thought. Come, let us speak," said
Philip Feltram, leading the way.

Sir Bale, with a shrug, followed him.

By this time it was dark. Feltram was walking slowly towards the margin
of the lake; and Sir Bale, more curious as the delay increased, followed
him, and smiled faintly as he looked after his tall, gaunt figure, as
if, even in the dark, expressing a ridicule which he di