in, but I
forebore. "Well," I said, "if that's the value you put upon your life, I
can't grumble at your Guerdon. I suppose that shrivelled little carcass
of yours isn't worth more than fourpence. I'll e'en change it in town,
and buy fourpennyworth of Dutch cheese, and you shall have the parings
for nothing to send to your Mamma as a gift from foreign parts. Good
morning to you, my noble Captain." And so saying I walked away in a Fume
of Wrath and Contempt.

I was idling, that same afternoon, along the Main street of Ostend very
much in the Dumps, and thinking of going down to the Port to seek a
cook's place from some Ship Master, for I was not yet Qualified to
engage as an Able-bodied Mariner, when I met the Chaplain again, this
time alone, and coming out of a pastryman's shop. I would have passed
him, as holding both him and his master in Disdain, but he Arrested me,
and beckoned me into an Entry, there to have some Speech.

"My Patron is somewhat quick and hasty, and was uncommonly flustered by
his mischance this morning," quoth the Rev. Mr. Hodge. "Nor perhaps did
he use you as liberally as he should have done. Here is a golden guilder
for you, honest man."

I thanked him, and as I pouched it told him that I would have taken no
Money at all for a service which every man is bound to render to his
Fellow-creature, but that I was sorely pressed for Money. On this, he
asked my name and belongings. The name I gave him, at the which he
winced somewhat; but of my history I did not care to enlighten him
further beyond broadly stating that I had come from the Plantations,
where I had been used to keep Accompts, and that I was an Orphan, and
had no friends in England, even if I possessed the means to return
thither.

"I think I can find you a place," the chaplain replied, when I had
finished. "'Twill not be a very handsome one, but the work is little and
light. Would it meet your purpose, now, to attend on a gentleman?"

"It depends," I replied, "on what kind of a Gentleman he is."

"A Gentleman of landed Estate," quoth the parson, quite pat. "An English
gentleman, now travelling for his Diversion, but will, in good time,
settle down in England, to live on his Acres in a Handsome manner, and
be a justice of peace, and of the Quorum."

"Do you mean your Squire of Hampstead, yonder?" I answered, pointing my
thumb over my shoulder, as though in the direction where I had met his
Reverence and his Patron that morning.

"