‘It’s Master Paul, sir,’ said Bassett, in a secret, religious voice. ‘It’s as if he had it from heaven. Like Daffodil now, for the Lincoln. That was as sure as eggs.’
‘Did you put anything on Daffodil?’ asked Oscar Cresswell.
‘Yes, sir. I made my bit.’
‘And my nephew?’
Bassett was obstinately silent, looking at Paul.
‘I made twelve hundred, didn’t I, Bassett? I told uncle I was putting three hundred on Daffodil.’
‘That’s right,’ said Bassett, nodding.
‘But where’s the money?’ asked the uncle.
‘I keep it safe locked up, sir. Master Paul, he can have it any minute he likes to ask for it.’
‘What, fifteen hundred pounds?’
‘And twenty! And forty, that is, with the twenty he made on the course.’
‘It’s amazing!’ said the uncle.
‘If Master Paul offers you to be partners, sir, I would, if I were you: if you’ll excuse me,’ said Bassett.
Oscar Cresswell thought about it.
‘I’ll see the money,’ he said.
They drove home again, and sure enough, Bassett came round to the garden-house with fifteen hundred pounds in notes. The twenty pounds reserve was left with Joe Glee, in the Turf Commission deposit.
‘You see, it’s all right, uncle, when I’m sure! Then we go strong, for all we’re worth. Don’t we, Bassett?’
‘We do that, Master Paul.’
‘And when are you sure?’ said the uncle, laughing.
‘Oh, well, sometimes I’m absolutely sure, like about Daffodil,’ said the boy; ‘and sometimes I have an idea; and sometimes I haven’t even an idea, have I, Bassett? Then we’re careful, because we mostly go down.’
‘You do, do you! And when you’re sure, like about Daffodil, what makes you sure, sonny?’
‘Oh, well, I don’t know,’ said the boy uneasily. ‘I’m sure, you know, uncle; that’s all.’
‘It’s as if he had it from heaven, sir,’ Bassett reiterated.
‘I should say so!’ said the uncle.
But he became a partner. And when the Leger[54] was coming on, Paul was ‘sure’ about Lively Spark, which was a quite inconsiderable horse. The boy insisted on putting a thousand on the horse, Bassett went for five hundred, and Oscar Cresswell two hundred. Lively Spark came in first, and the betting had been ten to one against him. Paul had made ten thousand.
‘You see,’ he said, ‘I was absolutely sure of him.’
Even Oscar Cresswell had cleared two thousand.
‘Look here, son,’ he said, ‘this sort of thing makes me nervous.’
‘It needn’t, uncle! Perhaps I shan’t be sure again for a long time.’
‘But what are you going to do with your money?’ asked the uncle.
