"
"And you, sir"--my father turned to Mr. Fett--"will you accompany
us?"
"With what ulterior object?" demanded Mr. Fett. "You will excuse my
speaking as a business man, and overlook the damned bad manners of
the question for the sake of its pertinence."
My father smiled. "Why, sir, I was proposing to invite you to a sea
voyage with me."
"There was a time, before commerce claimed me, when the mere hint of
a nautical expedition had evoked an emotion which, if it survive at
all, lingers but as in a sea-shell the whisper of the parent ocean."
"As a supercargo, at four shillings _per diem_," suggested my father.
"Say no more, sir; I am yours."
"As for Mr. Fiennes--nay, lad, I remember you well." My father
turned to him with that sweet courtesy which few ever resisted.
"And blush not, lad, if I guess that to you we all owe this meeting;
'twere a bravery well beseeming your blood. As for Mr. Fiennes, he
will accompany us in heart if he cannot in presence--being, as I
understand, destined for the law?"
"Why, sir, as for that," stammered Nat, "I have had the devil's own
dispute with my father.
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