“But he is very rich; and rich men—­”

“Rich!—­ay, verily; and so should I be rich, if every time my purse was empty I helped myself to Her Majesty’s gold, as it traversed the road from place to place!”

Tom stopped short as though he had been shot.

“A highwayman!” he gasped.

Harry bestowed upon him a sage glance and a mocking laugh.

“That is your word, not mine, my friend.  Breathe it not before his lordship!  But there be many who swear that he is none other than a grandson of the famous Claud Duval of olden days, and that he rolls in the wealth he has filched from royalty itself.”

“And yet he lives like a prince, and all the world pays him court!”

“Oh yes—­it is the way of the world; a successful villain is as much an idol as a successful general.  The tide may turn.  All high positions have their dangers.  Remember nothing has ever been proved against him; but men think and whisper, though not in his presence.  Town talk may or may not be true; and the ladies like him none the less for the tales that circulate about him.  But come now, no more questions, or we shall be late for the play!”

CHAPTER V. WITH LORD CLAUD.

Cale shook his head; but Tom was resolute.  He had fallen under the spell of the so-called Lord Claud’s personality—­like many another before him—­and whatever the upshot of the matter might be, he was going to accept the invitation accorded him, and visit that personage in his lodgings.

“Have a care, lad, have a care,” advised the little perruquier.  “All is not gold that glitters; and many a fine lad has been led to his ruin ere now by following some headlong fancy of his own.”

“I will be careful,” answered Tom, with the careless confidence of inexperience.  “Did I not come back last night with nothing spent save the price of the theatre and my coffee and supper?  You said yourself I had done well.  So give me now ten guineas, and I will be gone; for I was told to be early.”

Tom had no difficulty, once he had reached the Mall, in finding Lord Claud’s rooms; for everybody knew where they were situated, and looked with some respect upon Tom for inquiring.  He was received at the door by a very fine lackey, and taken up a wide staircase, so richly carpeted that the footfall could not be heard upon it.  Everywhere his eyes rested upon strange and costly products of foreign lands, such as he had never dreamed of heretofore.  Later on he learned that Lord Claud had won this sumptuous suite of rooms from a rich young nobleman at the gaming table, and had stepped into its luxury and collected treasures with never an effort on his part.  It was the fashion of the day to stake house and lands, wealth, and even honour, upon the cast of the dice or the fall of the cards; but that Tom did not yet know.