I have trouble in understanding the meaning or the implication of "seven to four" in this sentence. I could not get any related explanation in the dictionary.
My guess is: I would volunteer to work for a free day just to see that look on Will again?? But why seven to four? If not, Could anyone help please?
The context is:
“I” am a medical carer of Will who is a quadriplegic in wheelchair, and I took care of him for two years and saw him in a lot pain. Louisa is Will's new carer recently hired. The two had just come back from a wedding reception the day before, and had spent the night in a hotel, only because both of them got so drunk on the wedding and nothing else happened( Will is a quadriplegic). The conspiracy in the text is referring to a trip the two persons are planning and later they were asking if "I" could go with them.
Here is the sentence:
Louisa looked a bit shaken but he had gone over and murmured something
to her, and that was the point at which I saw it. She went kind of
pink and laughed, the kind of laugh you do when you know you shouldn’t
be laughing. The kind of laugh that spoke of a conspiracy. And then
Will turned to her and told her to take it easy for the rest of the
day. Go home, get changed, maybe catch forty winks.‘I can’t be walking around the castle with someone who has so clearly
just done the walk of shame,’ he said.‘Walk of shame?’ I couldn’t keep the surprise from my voice.
‘Not that walk of shame,’ Louisa said, flicking me with her scarf, and
grabbed her coat to leave.‘Take the car,’ he called out. ‘It’ll be easier for you to get back.’
I watched Will’s eyes follow her all the way to the back door.
I would have offered you seven to four just on the basis of that
look alone.Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Best Answer
British people often express a probability as "betting odds". In Britain, and some other countries, it is legal to place bets on whether some future event will happen. The event could be a particular horse winning a race, a football team winning a match, etc. Events are not restricted to sporting activities*. You can bet on. e.g. whether snow will fall somewhere in England on a certain date.
You can ask an individual or company specialising in taking bets (often called "bookmakers") to "give you odds" on the event happening. If they decide they want to take the bet, they quote ("give") you "odds", a figure, expressed as [number] to [number], such as "three to one", "seven to four", etc. These can be written as 3/1 and 7/4. They are the ratio of the amount of money you will win (the "winnings") to the amount you pay to place the bet (the"stake"). You also get the stake back if you win. Bookmakers advertise odds on popular events.
The odds reflect how likely the bookmaker thinks an event is to happen. An unlikely event will get bigger ("longer") odds than a likely one. Thus you might get odds of 1000 to 1 that it will snow in England on August 1st, but 2 to 1 that a well-regarded horse and jockey will win a particular race. Very "short" odds, often less than 2 to 1, means the bookmaker thinks the event is very likely. In the example given, the odds are 7/4, which is the same as 1.75 to 1. Odds are always given as whole numbers. If a bookmaker thinks an event is exceedingly likely to happen, so much so that they don't want to take bets, they will give bets where the ratio of winnings to stake is less than 1 to 1, e.g. three to five (3/5). These are called "on" odds, and described as "three to five on". You would have to bet £5 to get £3 back (plus your stake). An "odds-on favourite" is considered sure to win a race. The expression means something like the American "slam-dunk".
So, the narrator "I" is saying that, based on his understanding of the meaning of the look that Will gave to Louise, something is very likely. Could this be that Will is attracted to Louise?
*In 1964, a British man asked a bookmaking company for odds on whether a human would stand on the moon before January 1971. He was quoted 1000 to 1, and placed a bet of ten UK pounds, equivalent to around $223 in present values. On July 21, 1969, he was paid his winnings live on TV, after Neil Armstrong landed. Now his winnings would be equivalent to around $250,000.