He paused for a moment, then sat down on the window seat and shaded his eyes with his hand. "If it should happen that you have to go out into the great world now, as you surely must go some day--well, I'd be a poor fellow, and a bad friend, and no true soldier, if I held you back. It may not happen now, but--if it does"--he looked up quickly and smiled at the boy--"we sha'n't be the worse friends, Comethup, and we sha'n't forget each other--shall we?" Comethup's heart was almost too full to reply, but he gasped out, "No, sir," and the captain got up with a smile. "That's well, boy. Now, I suppose your aunt will be expecting you, and you'd better go back to her. Please let me know what she proposes you should do, and when you are to leave us, if you go at all." Comethup saluted gravely and went out of the house with a heavy heart. At the inn he found his aunt impatiently walking up and down her sitting room; she stopped as he entered and addressed him by name, although he had not spoken. "Well, Comethup, settled it with the captain, eh?" "I've had dinner with him," replied Comethup evasively. "Ah--and talked about me the whole time, I'll warrant! Well, I'm sure I don't mind, and you don't either of you know enough of me to say any harm." "I do assure you, aunt," said Comethup, "that the captain spoke most highly of you." "Very nice of him, I'm sure. Quite pleasant to know that you impress people like that. However, we won't talk about the captain now, or anybody else. Come over here." She seated herself near a window and put her hand on the boy's shoulder in the same fashion as before. Comethup felt that his fate was about to be decided, and trembled a little, a fact which she instantly detected. "Well, what's the matter with you?" she asked, although not unkindly. "Do you think I'm going to eat you, or do something else dreadful to you? Have you ever read any fairy tales? Have you ever heard about a fairy godmother?" "Yes," said Comethup. "Well, then, I'm going to be your fairy godmother. I'm going to show you what the world is like, boy; I'm going to look after you, and--if you've got the stuff in you, as I think you have--I'm going to make a man of you. Understand this: I want to make a bargain with you--a bargain I think you're sensible enough to understand. Treat me fairly, and be straight and clear with me, and tell me the truth in everything you do, and, by the Lord! I'll never desert you; play me false, or prove anything but what I believe you to be, and I'll turn you out of doors at a moment's notice to starve. I don't want to make a prig of you. I don't mind if you get into trouble, or what you do, so that you're a _man_; anything short of that I won't stand. Now, will you take the risk?"