put on
rather for ornament than use.

He saluted passers by with an air of negligent grace, replying with
a smile to those friends who paused and bandied jests with him,
asking him where the fair lady was with whom he was going to visit.

Tom was also dressed in his best, and looked a fitting comrade for
the young exquisite now leisurely mounting to the seat beside him.
There was no place for a servant upon the carriage, and Tom had
learned by this time that Lord Claud was no more really dependent
than he was himself upon the attentions of a valet. He was rather
in a fog as to what all this was about, whither they were bound,
and what they were to accomplish; but he was willing to be led by
the strong will of his companion, and to follow him wherever he
went.

Tom's irritation and perplexity had not decreased during the past
days. He was at his wits' end for money; and it seemed to him that
if he could not obtain the payment due, he must either trust to his
luck at gambling for funds, or else go home and settle down at
Gablehurst once again.

For the latter course he was not yet ready. His soul revolted from
the thought of the life of the country squire. He had tasted of the
cup of excitement and pleasure, and was not in the least prepared
to relinquish it. He would rather face almost any alternative than
go back to the life of the Essex village, and sink down into the
old routine.

So he had been gaming somewhat recklessly these past days, and with
varying success. There had been moments when he was plunged into
despair; and then again the luck would shift, and he would feel
that fortune was almost at his feet.

Yet at the end of the time matters were with him very much as they
had been at the beginning; save that Tom himself had grown more
reckless an defiant, most lustful of gold, and less scrupulous how
he obtained it, as is always the way with the true gambler, whether
he is aware of it at the outset or not.

Now they were rolling along together through the gay streets of
London, the hot summer sunshine making everything bright and
joyous, filling Tom with a great longing after the good things of
this life, and a sense of bitter indignation at being defrauded of
his due.

Lord Claud handled the reins and drove his pair of fine horses with
a skill which awoke the youth's admiration, and which attracted the
notice also of the passers by. Lord Claud appeared rather to court
observation than to shun it, a