I am always afraid of inconveniencing busy men, being an idle man.'
'I should not have thought so, from your appearance.'
'No? I take it as a compliment. In fact, I was bred in the Royal
Navy, and was First Lieutenant when I quitted it. But, an uncle
disappointed in the service leaving me his property on condition
that I left the Navy, I accepted the fortune, and resigned my
commission.'
'Lately, I presume?'
'Well, I had had twelve or fifteen years of knocking about first.
I came here some nine months before you; I had had one crop before
you came. I chose this place, because, having served last in a
little corvette, I knew I should feel more at home where I had a
constant opportunity of knocking my head against the ceiling.
Besides, it would never do for a man who had been aboard ship from
his boyhood to turn luxurious all at once. Besides, again; having
been accustomed to a very short allowance of land all my life, I
thought I'd feel my way to the command of a landed estate, by
beginning in boxes.'
Whimsically as this was said, there was a touch of merry
earnestness in it that made it doubly whimsical.
'However,' said the Lieutenant, 'I have talked quite enough about
myself. It is not my way, I hope; it has merely been to present
myself to you naturally. If you will allow me to take the liberty
I have described, it will be a charity, for it will give me
something more to do.
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