"I grant it all, captain. She has but to choose her title and estate." "Ay, and I have a notion which she'll be choosing." "The knowledge is worth a thousand pounds at the least," I replied. "I will lend you the sum, and warrant no lack of takers." "Now the devil fly off with such temperament! And I had half the encouragement she has given you, I would cast anchor on the spot, and they might hang and quarter me to move me. But I know you well," he exclaimed, his manner changing, "you are making this great sacrifice on my account. And I will not be a drag on your pleasures, Richard, or stand in the way of your prospects." "Captain Paul," I said, sitting down beside him, "have I deserved this from you? Have I shown a desire to desert you now that my fortunes have changed? I have said that you shall taste of our cheer at Carvel Hall, and have looked forward this long while to the time when I shall take you to my grandfather and say: 'Mr. Carvel, this is he whose courage and charity have restored you to me, and me to you.' And he will have changed mightily if you do not have the best in Maryland. Should you wish to continue on the sea, you shall have the Belle of the Wye, launched last year. 'Tis time Captain Elliott took to his pension." The captain sighed, and a gleam I did not understand came into his dark eyes. "I would that God had given me your character and your heart, Richard," he said, "in place of this striving thing I have within me. But 'tis written that a leopard cannot change his spots." "The passage shall be booked this day," I said. That morning was an eventful one. Comyn arrived first, dressed in a suit of mauve French cloth that set off his fine figure to great advantage. He regarded me keenly as he entered, as if to discover whether I had changed my mind over night. And I saw he was not in the best of tempers. "And when do you sail?" he cried. "I have no doubt you have sent out already to get passage." "I have been trying to persuade Mr. Carvel to remain in London, my Lord," said the captain. "I tell him he is leaving his best interests behind him." "I fear that for once you have undertaken a task beyond your ability, Captain Paul," was the rather tart reply. "The captain has a ridiculous idea that he is the cause of my going," I said quickly. John Paul rose somewhat abruptly, seized his hat and bowed to his Lordship, and in the face of a rain sallied out, remarking that he had as yet seen nothing of the city. "Jack, you must do me the favour not to talk of this in John Paul's presence," I said, when the door had closed. "If he doesn't suspect why you are going, he has more stupidity than I gave him credit for," Comyn answered gruffly. "I fear he does suspect," I said.