By dint of parading his opinion of such and such a player's
superiority with a sufficient degree of youthful assertiveness he usually
succeeded in provoking a wager at liberal odds, and he looked to his week-
end winnings to carry him through the financial embarrassments of his mid-
week existence. The trouble was, as he confided to Clovis Sangrail, that
he never had enough available or even prospective cash at his command to
enable him to fix the wager at a figure really worth winning.
"Some day," he said, "I shall come across a really safe thing, a bet that
simply can't go astray, and then I shall put it up for all I'm worth, or
rather for a good deal more than I'm worth if you sold me up to the last
button."
"It would be awkward if it didn't happen to come off," said Clovis.
"It would be more than awkward," said Rex; "it would be a tragedy. All
the same, it would be extremely amusing to bring it off. Fancy awaking
in the morning with about three hundred pounds standing to one's credit.
I should go and clear out my hostess's pigeon-loft before breakfast out
of sheer good-temper."
"Your hostess of the moment mightn't have a pigeon-loft," said Clovis.
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