ose company, and don't get drinking, sir, or out of
the house you go."

Charlie attempted to express his thanks, but his uncle stopped him
abruptly.

"Hold your tongue, sir. I am doing what is right; a thing, sir, Joshua
Tufton always has done, and doesn't expect to be thanked for it. All I
ask you is, that if you rob the Company's till and are hung, don't
mention that you are related to me."

After dinner was over, Charlie went out under the charge of an old
clerk, and visited tailors' and outfitters' shops, and found that his
uncle's idea of the few necessaries for a voyage differed very widely
from his own. The clerk, in each case, inquired from the tradesmen
what was the outfit which gentlemen going to India generally took with
them, and Charlie was absolutely appalled at the magnitude of the
orders. Four dozen shirts, ten dozen pairs of stockings, two dozen
suits of white cotton cloth, and everything else in proportion.
Charlie in vain remonstrated, and even implored the clerk to abstain
from ordering what appeared to him such a fabulous amount of things;
and begged him, at any rate, to wait until he had spoken to his uncle.
The clerk, however, replied that he had received instructions that the
full usual outfit was to be obtained, and that Mr. Tufton never
permitted his orders to be questioned. Charlie was forced to submit,
but he was absolutely oppressed with the magnitude of his outfit, to
carry which six huge trunks were required.

"It is awful," Charlie said to himself, "positively awful. How much it
will all come to, goodness only knows; three or four hundred pounds,
at least."

In those days, before steam was thought of, and the journey to India
was often of six months' duration, men never came home more than once
in seven years, and often remained in India from the day of their
arrival until they finally retired, without once revisiting England.
The outfits taken out were, therefore, necessarily much larger than at
the present time, when a run home to England can be accomplished in
three weeks, and there are plenty of shops, in every town in India,
where all European articles of necessity or luxury can be purchased.

After separating from the clerk, Charlie felt altogether unable to
start out in search of amusement. He wandered about vaguely till
supper time, and then attempted to address his uncle on the subject.

"My dear Uncle," he began, "you've been so awfully kind to me, that I
really do not