For the latter course he was not yet ready.  His soul revolted from the thought of the life of the country squire.  He had tasted of the cup of excitement and pleasure, and was not in the least prepared to relinquish it.  He would rather face almost any alternative than go back to the life of the Essex village, and sink down into the old routine.

So he had been gaming somewhat recklessly these past days, and with varying success.  There had been moments when he was plunged into despair; and then again the luck would shift, and he would feel that fortune was almost at his feet.

Yet at the end of the time matters were with him very much as they had been at the beginning; save that Tom himself had grown more reckless an defiant, most lustful of gold, and less scrupulous how he obtained it, as is always the way with the true gambler, whether he is aware of it at the outset or not.

Now they were rolling along together through the gay streets of London, the hot summer sunshine making everything bright and joyous, filling Tom with a great longing after the good things of this life, and a sense of bitter indignation at being defrauded of his due.

Lord Claud handled the reins and drove his pair of fine horses with a skill which awoke the youth’s admiration, and which attracted the notice also of the passers by.  Lord Claud appeared rather to court observation than to shun it, and often paused to exchange a word with friends upon the footpath; always telling the same story of being on his way to St. Albans; always smiling and evading a reply when asked to what particular house he was bound.

Nobody who saw the light and remarkable-looking carriage speeding on its way would be likely to forget it, and Tom could not help rather wondering at the public fashion in which they took their journey forth.

He had one encounter which he thought little of at the time, and certainly made no effort to evade.  Lord Claud had pulled up the carriage to exchange a few words with a knot of dandies who had hailed him from the footway, and Tom was sitting and looking about him at the passing throng.  Presently he was aware of the fixed stare of several pairs of eyes at an adjacent tavern window; and looking fixedly through the rather dull glass, he made out for certain that his friends, the four swaggering bullies, were the owners of these eyes.  A minute or two later Bully Bullen stepped forth from the door, and accosted him with swaggering insolence of demeanour.

“So, Master Tom, you make fine friends!  And whither away so fast in that fine carriage?  Egad, there be truth in the old adage, ’Set a beggar on horseback, and he will ride to the devil.’  Fine company, fine company for a country bumpkin to keep!  But you’ll find it finer than you think for one of these days!  Ho! ho! ho!”

Lord Claud did not appear to hear or heed this newcomer’s talk; but he showed that he had taken all in by just quietly shifting the long whip into Tom’s hands, whilst himself drawing tighter the reins.