"Oh my Goodness! Nay, don't put the poor Fellow to Inconvenience on my Account, pray." "Certainly not!" cried _Prue_, indignantly. "Why, Mr. _Fenwick_ is quite a Gentleman!" "Oh, is he so?" said _Tom_, bursting out laughing, "and pray, what am I? 'Sir, you're no Gentleman!'--is that it, _Prue_?" "Why, you're _Tom_, and that's all." "And that's enough too, isn't it? Oh, I can swing my Hammock anywhere. I wouldn't put Anyone to the smallest Inconvenience. Would sooner catch my Death of Cold, or lose every Shot in my Locker." "_Tom_, you're such a thoughtless, good-tempered Fellow, we must pack you in somewhere." "Oh, no, _Uncle_! don't think of it. I'll be off to the _Three Bells_. Only, there are two Belles here I like better." "But, _Tom_, I shouldn't like you to get your Pocket picked." "And I," said my _Mother_, "should not like you to take your Death of Cold." "Never caught Cold in my Life, Ma'am, that was only Flummery; a Sailor has Something else to do than keep sneezing and blowing his Nose. And I can leave my Money and Watch here." "_Prudence_," said I, "you and I could sleep in the little blue Closet." "Why shouldn't _Tom_," said _Prudence_, "now the other Door is un-nailed? We should have to move all our Things." "Thank you, _Patty_," said _Tom_, "you were always as sweet as Syrup to me. I shall like the blue Closet a precious deal the best, I can assure you, instead of being mast-headed." So thus it was arranged; and the light-hearted Fellow was soon established among us, spinning long Yarns, as he called them, about _John Chinaman_. The next Day, he was absent for some Hours, and when he came back, he said he wanted _Prue_ and me to go with him in the Evening to see a Conjuror. _Prudence_, for some Whim, would not go; but I accompanied him with Pleasure. The Way _Tom_ went on, however, spoiled my Evening's Entertainment.