Chapter 3.LV.
When my uncle Toby had turned every thing into money, and settled all
accounts betwixt the agent of the regiment and Le Fever, and betwixt Le
Fever and all mankind,--there remained nothing more in my uncle Toby's
hands, than an old regimental coat and a sword; so that my uncle Toby
found little or no opposition from the world in taking administration.
The coat my uncle Toby gave the corporal;--Wear it, Trim, said my
uncle Toby, as long as it will hold together, for the sake of the poor
lieutenant--And this,--said my uncle Toby, taking up the sword in his
hand, and drawing it out of the scabbard as he spoke--and this, Le
Fever, I'll save for thee,--'tis all the fortune, continued my uncle
Toby, hanging it up upon a crook, and pointing to it,--'tis all the
fortune, my dear Le Fever, which God has left thee; but if he has given
thee a heart to fight thy way with it in the world,--and thou doest it
like a man of honour,--'tis enough for us.
As soon as my uncle Toby had laid a foundation, and taught him to
inscribe a regular polygon in a circle, he sent him to a public school,
where, excepting Whitsontide and Christmas, at which times the corporal
was punctually dispatched for him,--he remained to the spring of the
year, seventeen; when the stories of the emperor's sending his army into
Hungary against the Turks, kindling a spark of fire in his bosom, he
left his Greek and Latin without leave, and throwing himself upon his
knees before my uncle Toby, begged his father's sword, and my
uncle Toby's leave along with it, to go and try his fortune under
Eugene.--Twice did my uncle Toby forget his wound and cry out, Le Fever!
I will go with thee, and thou shalt fight beside me--And twice he
laid his hand upon his groin, and hung down his head in sorrow and
disconsolation.--
My uncle Toby took down the sword from the crook, where it had hung
untouched ever since the lieutenant's death, and delivered it to
the corporal to brighten up;--and having detained Le Fever a single
fortnight to equip him, and contract for his passage to Leghorn,--he
put the sword into his hand.--If thou art brave, Le Fever, said my
uncle Toby, this will not fail thee,--but Fortune, said he (musing a
little),--Fortune may--And if she does,--added my uncle Toby, embracing
him, come back again to me, Le Fever, and we will shape thee another
course.
The greatest injury could not have oppressed the heart of Le Fever more
than my uncle
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