Dr. Gentian cut him off. "Yes--that was the agreement," he admitted. "Three years. But there's the religious difficulty. They're Catholics, every man jack of them--Roman Catholics. Now listen to me," he tapped his thumb on the table. "When I first took them on my ships--would they have made conditions then? No. They were starving. I took them because they were starving. I didn't think then--They let me take the Greeks because the Greek Church to our mind's a Protestant church--but if I'd proposed transporting twelve hundred Catholics to the Floridas as settlers--giving them lands--the men at Whitehall would have cracked my whole project like an egg. I had to dissemble a little--how could I refuse starving men?--I thought once they were settled here--but the present governor's my enemy, as you know--" "Even so, sir--" said Andrew, trying to put in a word. "See here, lad," said Dr. Gentian, very firmly and gently, "Spain's still plotting to recover the Floridas. If I yield to these men's demands and give them their lands now--the governor can make a mare's nest out of it--enough to link me up with any kind of a trumpery Spanish plot he can bogy the men in England with. Then all New Sparta falls to the ground--and who gains by it? Your friends, the Minorcans? No. I must put them off for the present--till we have a new governor--or--" "I can see the logic in everything you say, sir," said Andrew, a trifle stubbornly, "but nevertheless--" The green stone in Dr. Gentian's ring flashed as he stretched out his hand to Andrew. "Have I treated you like a son, Andrew--yes or no?" he said quite simply, and Andrew felt touched and humbled, but a little trapped as well. After all, whether or not Dr. Gentian had treated him like a son had little to do with his treatment of the Minorcans. "You have always treated me most kindly, sir," he said, a bit grudgingly, yet hating himself for being grudging. "And yet--" Dr. Gentian looked hurt. He dropped his hand. "And yet you are unwilling to take my word on this--even when I assure you that one of my reasons for going to St. Augustine will be my wish to remedy the matter with the governor?" "Of course, I must take your word, sir--if you put it like that," said Andrew, in a sudden glow of self-reproach. "Ah," said Dr. Gentian, and laid a hand on his elbow. "Ah--that's my good lad!" 5.