“You know how I’m situated, Wolf,” said he, turning his gaze from me, as if ashamed to acknowledge his subservience to the wilful boy. “Tommy must have his own way; he is desperate if he does not. He will run away, or drown himself in the lake, if he does not.” I could not help smiling at the infirmity of the father, and he made haste to defend himself. Tommy was subject to fits when he was a child, and he was fearful that irritation would bring on a return of the malady. The young gentleman had actually threatened to commit suicide if he could not have his own way. “I only wish to smooth the thing over for a time, for Tommy is a good-hearted boy, and he will come to his senses if he is not thwarted,” added he. “You are not a father, Wolf, and you can’t understand the matter.” “I am willing to do whatever you desire, sir,” I replied. “Perhaps I ought to say, that I can afford to be discharged just now. You have used me very handsomely, Major Toppleton, and I am grateful for your kindness. I will never leave your service of my own accord. Last night Colonel Wimpleton told me about his new steamer, which is to run in opposition to our Lightning Express, and offered me a man’s wages to go either as engineer or as captain of her. I told him I could not leave my friends while they used me so well, and declined the offer. I did not mean to tell you of this, and should not, if things had not turned out just as they have.” The major bit his lip again. He was disposed to be angry; and, in a passion, he was as nearly like Tommy as one pea is like another. But he did not give way to the inclination. “I declined the offer,” I repeated, when I saw him struggling with the mischief within him. “When will that steamer be ready to run?” he asked. “In a couple of months, the builder told me.” “I’m glad you told me of this,” he continued, after chewing upon it for some time. “Perhaps it will have some influence upon Tommy.” And there the matter ended for the present, Grace said she would do all she could for me; and however the rest of the house might regard me, I felt sure of an earnest advocate in her. She went on shore with her father, and as the skipper of the yacht, I spent the rest of the day in working upon her, and in putting down a set of moorings for her. The next day I took a party up the lake in her, and for the rest of the week I was kept busy in my new occupation. I acquitted myself to the satisfaction of my employers, not only in pleasant weather, but in a heavy squall, which caught us in the middle of the widest part of the lake, off Gulfport.