he had any real regard for Vera Holdsworth, but at least she was attractively female and therefore better than nothing at all. Since he would have the task of settling down one day he might as well get started.
“I wish I had a fur coat,” Vera said unexpectedly—and Terry gave her a startled glance.
“What! On a day like this? It must be nearly eighty—”
“Not for today: I’m thinking about the winter. I get the most frightful colds leaving that hot cinema and charging out into the frost. One day it’ll be pneumonia. Besides,” Vera added wistfully, “I am the head usherette, after all.”
Terry seemed about to comment, and then he stopped. Vera looked surprised for a moment, than she understood the reason as the voices of two men, walking by, drifted clearly.
“...not a chance of it losing, Bob. Got it from the owner himself. ‘Pirate’s Cutlass’!”
“Three-thirty, did you say?”
“Put your shirt on it. Forty to one, and....”
Terry looked at the girl. She raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
“Would that be manna from heaven?” Terry asked finally.
“I don’t know about heaven: more like the horse’s mouth!”
“It’s started something, anyway.... Let’s see....” Terry studied his race card and then moved across to the bookies’ stands. He came back presently to where the girl was standing. “Forty to one,” he confirmed. “Rank outsider.”
He stood biting his lip and considering the dust, trying to make up his mind.
“I’ve got a quid I might risk,” Vera said, thinking—then she became aware of Terry’s scornful glance.
“Never mind your quid! I’m going to play this hunch. I often do that and keep my fingers crossed. That chap did say to put your shirt on it. Here—take a look!”
Terry fumbled inside his hip pocket and brought out his wallet. The girl stared blankly at the bulge inside it. It was stuffed with treasury notes.
“For the love of Mike, Terry, how much money have you there?”
“Not so loud!” Terry cautioned, glancing about him. “There are all kinds of wide boys around.... There are two hundred pounds,” he told her. “I’ve made it buying and selling sub-standard movie equipment. It’s quite a racket with some projectionists. You want a fur coat, and there’s a special projector I’m itching to buy. If I put this lot on the nag’s nose and it comes off we’ll both be satisfied—and have a lot to spare.”
“Yes, but.... It’s an awful lot of money.”
“I’m going to risk it, anyway. Now, where’s the phone?”
“Phone?” Vera repeated. “What about these bookies?”
“Not for me, sweetheart. I’ve got my own bookie, as I told you. I don’t have to pay him on the nail since I run an account. With these blokes I’d have to pay on the spot. As long as I have cover for my bet I’m safe. Right! Two hundred to win on ‘Pirate’s Cutlass’. Come with me.”
He grabbed Vera’s arm and hurried through the crowd. Within five minutes he had made his phone call to his own bookmaker. He came out of the telephone kiosk with a satisfied grin.
“Well, it’s all done!” he announced. “Now let’s see what happens. The race is due after the next one.”
Vera walked beside him slowly, lighting another cigarette as she went.
“You’ve taken a frightful chance, Terry,” she said. “If it doesn’t come off you’ll—”
“That’s my worry, isn’t it? Life’s not worth living without taking a risk!”
The girl looked at him quickly, then away again.
“In a way,” he said, as they moved through the throngs, “I suppose we sort of became engaged today. Funny, really! I never knew you felt that way about me—and to think I’ve wasted all that time on Helen and never been given any encouragement. You must have some sort of regard for me or you wouldn’t have altered your day off to fit in with mine. If I’ve seemed a bit—well, distant, it was only because I didn’t realize how things stood between us.”
Vera did not say anything until they reached a position where they could clearly see the course. Then she made a remark in a low voice.
“Don’t take too much for granted, Terry.”
“Eh?” Quick surprise was in his eyes. “Oh, you mean about the race? Oh, you don’t have to worry. It’s in the bag.”
“I’m not talking about the race: I’m talking about us. I don’t really feel that way about you. I just enjoy your company, that’s all. As usual, you’re trying to make the grade single handed without giving anybody else a chance to speak.”
“You mean....” Terry stopped and gave the girl a hard, searching look—but before he could say anything further the 3:30 had commenced and his attention, along with Vera’s, was centred exclusively on the track.
In tense silence they watched the race begin: than their excitement got the better of them and they started yelling at the top of their voices and beating the rail in front of them. But gradually the tempo of their eagerness slowed down, and it seemed to Terry that the bottom dropped out of the world when ‘Pirate’s Cutlass’ finished second by a short head.
“That,” Vera muttered, looking under her eyes, “is that....” She flirted her cigarette end over the rail. “Maybe the nag was half starved, or something. Or the tipster could have been a liar.”
For several moments Terry did not speak. Ha stood and stared at the track, then as the girl nudged him he came back to awareness.
“We’d better be moving, hadn’t we?” she asked. “Or are you going to stare at the track all day?”
Terry still said nothing, but as the girl shrugged and moved on he turned to follow her. In time they came to the grass banks near the gates. Terry sat down and gazed in front of him. Vera coiled up beside him and waited. The silence positively hurt.
“Was I nuts, or what?” Terry demanded suddenly, thumping his forehead. “Two hundred quid to win—all gone with the wind! Why in hell didn’t I back it for a place as well?”
“You laid the bet,” Vera sighed. “I didn’t even hear what you said to the bookie. Don’t even know who he is, or anything about him. It’s all your doing.”
Terry gave her a look of disgust and then lay on his side with his back to her. He chewed a wisp of grass for several minutes. Then he sat up and said loudly,
“I wouldn’t have bet at all if it hadn’t been for your damned fur coat!”
Vera opened her mouth in blank amazement. Then her blue eyes slitted.
“Hey now, just a minute! Don’t start blaming me! What about
