ut what do you make of that bag of gold?"

"Some one has lent it. You had better ask all about it of Feltram when
you can see him; for in speaking to me he seemed to know all about it,
and certainly did not seem to think the matter at all out of the
commonplace. It is just like that fisherman's story, about the hand that
drew Feltram into the water on the night that he was nearly drowned.
Every one can see what that was. Why of course it was simply the
reflection of his own hand in the water, in that vivid lightning. When
you have been out a little and have gained strength you will shake off
these dreams."

"I should not wonder," said Sir Bale.

It is not to be supposed that Sir Bale reported all that was in his
memory respecting his strange vision, if such it was, at Cloostedd. He
made a selection of the incidents, and threw over the whole adventure an
entirely accidental character, and described the money which the old man
had thrown to him as amounting to a purse of five guineas, and mentioned
nothing of the passages which bore on the coming race.

Good Doctor Torvey, therefore, reported only that Sir Bale's delirium
had left two or three illusions sticking in his memory.

But if they were illusions, they survived the event of his recovery, and
remained impressed on his memory with the sharpness of very recent and
accurately observed fact.

He was resolved on going to the races of Rindermere, where, having in
his possession so weighty a guarantee as the leather purse, he was
determined to stake it all boldly on Rainbow--against which horse he was
glad to hear there were very heavy odds.

The race came off. One horse was scratched, another bolted, the rider of
a third turned out to have lost a buckle and three half-pence and so was
an ounce and a half under weight, a fourth knocked down the post near
Rinderness churchyard, and was held to have done it with his left
instead of his right knee, and so had run at the wrong side. The result
was that Rainbow came in first, and I should be afraid to say how much
Sir Bale won. It was a sum that paid off a heavy debt, and left his
affairs in a much more manageable state.

From this time Sir Bale prospered. He visited Cloostedd no more; but
Feltram often crossed to that lonely shore as heretofore, and it is
believed conveyed to him messages which guided his betting. One thing is
certain, his luck never deserted him. His debts disappeared; and his
love of continental li