We will not risk too much, and one load will suffice for present necessities, albeit I should like well enough to obtain the two.

I would make our ministers smart for their scurvy treatment of me!" Tom grasped the situation in a moment, and set his teeth hard, whilst the light of battle leaped into his eyes.

The adventure suited the reckless self-confidence which his recent life had quickened.

Why should he not in time become a second Lord Claud, a man half feared, half admired by all London town, petted, made much of, observed and copied wherever he went?
That his calling was suspected, if not actually known, Tom had abundant reason to know.
But it seemed rather to give a lustre to his reputation than to cover him with shame.

Why should he not attain in time to a like pinnacle of fame and fortune?
Thus he mused, standing there in the softened moonlight, the fierce and lawless strain in his nature for the moment in the ascendant, the influence of his strange comrade dominant in his heart.
There was a sound at last.