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 Magnificent! Vive Bardelys!"
CHAPTER II
THE KING'S WISHES
It was daybreak ere the last of them had left me, for a dozen or so
had lingered to play lansquenet after the others had departed.
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