"Well," questioned Jeremiah, seeking information. "Where?" "Come with me to Doncaster," said Captain Ablewhite. "Glorious place! No end of swells there, waiting to hand you their money. A fortune ready made for you. We'll have a rare week. I know to a certainty what's going to win the Leger. A dark 'un." "Doncaster's a long way off," said Jeremiah ruminatively. "All the better. You can manage it: throw over the office for five days. What is life without beer and skittles? You will come back rolling in money." Jeremiah did manage it. Miser Farebrother had one of his worst attacks, and there was no likelihood of his being able to leave his room the Doncaster week. Away went Jeremiah on Monday, in the company of Captain Ablewhite and three other swells, to commence the solid foundation of the great fortune in store for him. He had made his preparations for the grand _coup_, and had possessed himself of no less a sum than two thousand pounds in ready cash. How he had obtained this money need not be too curiously inquired into; sufficient to say that it was his master's, and that forgery was the means by which he had come into possession of it. He had "borrowed" it for a week. When the Doncaster Meeting was over, he would be able to replace it. He had confided to his mother that he was leaving London for a few days, and had instructed her to communicate regularly with him at Doncaster, giving her the address of an inn at which he and Captain Ablewhite intended to stop. She had implored him to confide in her the nature of the business which took him away; but he was obdurate, and he sternly refused to let her into the secret. "All it is necessary for you to know," he said to her, "is that when you see me next I shall have twenty thousand pounds of my own." "Don't run yourself into danger," she begged. "Oh, Jeremiah, be careful!" "Let me alone for that," he replied. "I know what I'm about." On the road to Doncaster he played "Nap" with Captain Ablewhite and his swell friends, crown points, and when the train reached its destination he had won over forty pounds. "A good commencement," he said to himself, elated at his good fortune. "You have the luck of the devil," said one of the losers to him. "How do you manage it?" Jeremiah smiled as he packed his winnings away. "It is my opinion," observed Captain Ablewhite pleasantly, "that Mr. Pamflett has made a bargain with the old gentleman. Everything he touches turns to gold."