A STRANGE BET

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8189, 21 July 1906, Page 7

A STRANGE BET

'Specially written for the Age by RuthEelob.) PART ll.—Continued. Now, Fastfoot, no doubt had been a fool, still a fool wtib a will. A fool with a will is only partially a fool. His lordship's will was, to listen to oommonsense. He forsook riotous living, settled his affairs aDd found that he had a dear £2OO a year to live upon—an impossibility for a man of his rank to do. For an impoverished man there was in ihoße days but one way to increase his income: Her Majesty's Civil Service. Fastfoot took that way. An interview with one of the : State's ministers settled the business. Lord Fasttortt had always bud* ported the cabinet; the cabinet now (Supported him—by appointing him. to a binecure of £SOO per annum. With an iucome of £7OO a year a ilord can live decntly, and our friend lived not only so, but even well and moreover decorously. Me .also was"quite a success as a Civil Servant; for be had too much energy and self-respeot to accept a salary without an equivalent in work, and socially, beoanse it was soon recognized that he was a safe man. Titles, unsupported by corresponding wealth were, in his lordship's day, not so eagerly coveted by the wealthy as now they are—yet the fine personality of our friend would doubtles i have assured to him a wealthy bride, had he sought suoh; but he had left his heart in Germany. The eooentrio bet, related formerly had interrupted, nay, (broken off his ilove affair—yet, be had .neither sought nor did he at any ftime seek consolation for his disappointment elsewhere. That iB iwby he was a safe man. And thus time went smoothly on, ,and uneventfully for some years, and Fastfoot eased money. Now, this rascal Time, this sly impersonal Cbforios, is the worst juggler in the world. As to Fastfoot., him Chronos first had sobered down, then taught him to become useful and a favourite, next Jid made him careful and saving, and saving, and now, of a sudden, be gave him a rap on the spot where phrenologists plaoe "acquisitiyeneas," raising there, in a manner of speaking, a great bump. Our lord became auquißitive—he had saved a few hundred pounds. How might he convert them in to as many thousands? About this time a colossal speculation was whispered about in the commercial world. It was confidently predicted that every shareholder in it would be enriched beyond his most fervent dreams. It was a dead bird! But then, one needed capital and influence as a "sesame" to the arcava of the "Grand Speculation," the G.Sp. as it came to be called. The inner oircle of commerce became excited over the G.Sp. All the more intimates of his lordship were carried into the whirl of it, and so was Fastfoot! He found a friend of the necessary influence to admit him to the deßiredarcava; but how about the money required? We shall be brief: For deposit of £SOO in cash, (nearly the whole of his savings) and his signature to a promise "to pay a further £3500, in six weeks from date," his lordship obtained his desire, and at once set about raising that amount. Alas, for our friend! Be had confidently expected ta be abl« to raise [the necessary funds by a farther mortgage on' his eßtate. No moneybroker would even look at the proposal. He was told that the estate was already more than swamped by previous lieus upon it. It vain he pointed out that it still yielded £2OO above the interest required for these lieus. "Not marign enough," was the reply of one flnanoier; "We require our money for the G.Sp.," answered another. To borrow of friends was also impossible. Thus it was on the card that at the end of six weeks Fastfoot would forfeit his deposit and become once more foolish in the eyes of the world. All this was very hard on our friend and he felt bad over it. He felt worse, when he was informed that his despised enemy, the great German Croesus, Herr v. Benjamin, reserved a large slice of the G.Sp. pie to himself, and that tie really had the • bankig of it. That looked all right for its successful baking; still it did not help our friend. It was after a very distressful dinner that Fastfoot, pouring over his bad luok fell into retrospection of which Benny was the central figure. That cad, that cad ! Fastfoot had' often clothed him, feasted him, saved him from duns, had fought a duol for him when Benny was half dead with fear—this jackal, this hanger on of his had betrayed him for a paltry 3000 marks, and now this craven heart was a million—million—aire—aire aire. Fastfoot must have had a sound, long snooze; for when he shook himself he noticed that his fire was low, and he detected himself in repeatedly muttering "Nix, Nix, I'm in a fix," no doubt a refrain of a portion of his reminiscent dream. tie went to bed, but all through the night he was plauged with the jingle of that doggerel rhyme. (To be Continued.)