"The very thing." "Well!" "You are pleased to set an altogether fictitious value upon half bottle of brandy we have left," he said.

"Now I tell you what I will do.

In a few months we shall both be rich men.

I will play you for my I O U, for fifty pounds, fifty sovereigns, Trent, against half the contents of that bottle.

Come, that is a fair offer, is it not?
How we shall laugh at this in a year or two! Fifty pounds against a tumblerful--positively there is no more--a tumblerful of brandy." He was watching Trent's face all the time, but the younger man gave no sign.