never two miles from
St. Albans upon that night; and I was with him the whole time,
sharing his room and his company."

"Well, well, well," answered Cale, with a look of some relief, "I
would never willingly believe harm of any man. But there are more
strange tales flying about with regard to yon Lord Claud than about
almost any other man in town; and folks say that many a likely lad,
dashing and brave, has become confederate for a time with him, and
has then vanished no man knows whither. I would not that such a
fate should befall you, Tom."

A slight shiver ran through Tom's frame. He felt that there was an
ugly suggestion in these words. How easily might some disastrous
turn of fortune's wheel that other night have left him a victim
upon those fields instead of the gallant horse who carried him! How
skilfully and easily had Lord Claud played upon him, prompting him
to an act which a few months ago he would have shrunk from in the
greatest horror! There was something almost diabolic in the beauty,
the fascination, the cleverness, of the man. Tom made a resolution,
as these things flashed through his mind, that he would have no
more dealings with him, if this was what they led to. He even began
to doubt now whether it was true that he had applied in vain for
the reward promised them for their secret service expedition. It
might all be a part of a preconcerted plan, in order to cajole Tom
into thinking he had some sort of right to act as they had done
with regard to this money.

He began to feel doubts of everything now, and above all of
himself. Had he been made a tool of and a dupe? And was he walking
blindfold into a net ready for his feet?

He slept but restlessly upon his bed that night, revolving many
things in his mind, and almost resolving to see Lord Claud no more,
but to adopt a new method of life in this wonderful city, albeit he
scarcely knew what that life should be.

Tom's hot blood had been fired by the adventures of the past
months; his vanity had been flattered by the success which he had
met with; his self confidence (always rather too strong) had grown
and increased with great rapidity. He felt that without adventure
and peril of some sort life would be tame and flat. To live as
Master Cale lived, a quiet uneventful life of honest toil, seemed
repugnant to him. Even to do as Harry Gay did, and pass the time in
wandering between coffee houses and the play, or taking a wherry
and rowing hither a