"It is a pity somebody had not broken the rascally printer's, before he had the impudence to disgrace us by having a family, uncle." Captain Roland tried hard to frown, but he could not. "Pshaw!" said he, stopping, and taking snuff. "The world of the dead is wide; why should the ghosts jostle us?" "We can never escape the ghosts, uncle. They haunt us always. We cannot think or act, but the soul of some man, who has lived before, points the way. The dead never die, especially since--" "Since what, boy? You speak well." "Since our great ancestor introduced printing," said I, majestically. My uncle whistled "Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre." I had not the heart to plague him further. "Peace!" said I, creeping cautiously within the circle of the stick. "No! I forewarn you--" "Peace! and describe to me my little cousin, your pretty daughter,--for pretty I am sure she is." "Peace," said my uncle, smiling. "But you must come and judge for yourself." CHAPTER II. Uncle Roland was gone. Before he went, he was closeted for an hour with my father, who then accompanied him to the gate; and we all crowded round him as he stepped into his chaise. When the Captain was gone, I tried to sound my father as to the cause of so sudden a departure. But my father was impenetrable in all that related to his brother's secrets. Whether or not the Captain had ever confided to him the cause of his displeasure with his son,--a mystery which much haunted me,--my father was mute on that score both to my mother and myself. For two or three days, however, Mr. Caxton was evidently unsettled. He did not even take to his Great Work, but walked much alone, or accompanied only by the duck, and without even a book in his hand. But by degrees the scholarly habits returned to him; my mother mended his pens, and the work went on. For my part, left much to myself, especially in the mornings, I began to muse restlessly over the future. Ungrateful. that I was, the happiness of home ceased to content me. I heard afar the roar of the great world, and roved impatient by the shore.