You may set all you have against it," I added
coarsely, "and yet, I swear, the odds will be heavily in your favour."

I remember it was Mironsac who first found his tongue, and sought even
at that late hour to set restraint upon us and to bring judgment to our
aid.

"Messieurs, messieurs!" he besought us. "In Heaven's name, bethink
you what you do. Bardelys, your wager is a madness. Monsieur de
Chatellerault, you'll not accept it. You'll--"

"Be silent," I rebuked him, with some asperity. "What has Monsieur de
Chatellerault to say?"

He was staring at the tablecloth and the stain of the wine that he had
spilled when first Mademoiselle de Lavedan's name was mentioned. His
head had been bent so that his long black hair had tumbled forward and
partly veiled his face. At my question he suddenly looked up. The ghost
of a smile hung on his sensuous lips, for all that excitement had paled
his countenance beyond its habit.

"Monsieur le Marquis." said he rising, "I take your wager, and I pledge
my lands in Normandy against yours of Bardelys. Should you lose, they
will no longer call you the Magnificent; should I lose--I shall be a
beggar. It is a momentous wager, Bardelys, and spells ruin for one of
us."

"A madness!" groaned Mironsac.

"Mordieux!" swore Cazalet. Whilst La Fosse, who had been the original
cause of all this trouble, vented his excitement in a gibber of imbecile
laughter.

"How long do you give me, Chatellerault?" I asked, as quietly as I
might.

"What time shall you require?"

"I should prefer that you name the limit," I answered.

He pondered a moment. Then "Will three months suffice you?" he asked.

"If it is not done in three months, I will pay," said I.

And then Chatellerault did what after all was, I suppose, the only thing
that a gentleman might do under the circumstances. He rose to his feet,
and, bidding the company charge their glasses, he gave them a parting
toast.

"Messieurs, drink with me to Monsieur le Marquis de Bardelys's safe
journey into Languedoc, and to the prospering of his undertaking."

In answer, a great shout went up from throats that suspense had lately
held in leash. Men leapt on to their chairs, and, holding their glasses
on high, they acclaimed me as thunderously as though I had been the
hero of some noble exploit, instead of the main figure in a somewhat
questionable wager.

"Bardelys!" was the shout with which the house reechoed. "Bardelys!
Bardelys the Magn