lenty there, he knew, for his method of saving
had been to live principally on his grandfather's supplies, and to leave
his own to accumulate under his guardian's care--a plan which had always
seemed to him admirably simple, as indeed it had proved to be. Lately he
had not received much from the squire, because the old man so fully
intended to provide for his favorite once and for all on the approaching
wedding-day. Percival got some of the tradesmen to take back their
goods, and sold off everything he had to meet the rest of the claims
against him. Even the watch his grandfather had given him went, on
Bombastes Furioso's theory that

Watches were made to go.

Hammond was urgent that he should accept a loan. "It isn't friendly to
be so infernally proud," said Godfrey.

"What do you call being 'infernally proud'?" Percival retorted. "I've
been living on you for the last fortnight; and I bought myself a silver
watch this morning, and I've got two pounds seventeen shillings and
sevenpence and a big portmanteau full of clothes. I don't _want_ your
money."

It was after dinner. Hammond filled his glass and pushed the bottle to
his guest. "What do you mean to do?" he asked.

"Ah, that's the question," answered Percival. "Do you happen to know if
one has to pass much of an examination to qualify one for breaking
stones on the roads now-a-days? Not that I should like that much;" and
he sipped his claret reflectively. "It would be rather monotonous,
wouldn't it? And I can't help thinking that bits would get into one's
eyes."

"I think so too," said Godfrey. "Emigrate."

"That advice would be good in some cases. But addressed to any one who
is notoriously helpless its meaning is obvious."

"Are you notoriously helpless?"

"Am I not?"

"Well, perhaps. What does it mean, then?"

"It is a civil way of saying, 'Ruin is inevitably before you--gradual
descent in the social scale, ending in misery and starvation. _Would_
you be so kind as to go through the process a few thousand miles away,
instead of just outside my front door?' I don't say you mean that--"

"I'm sure I won't say I don't," Hammond interrupted him. "Very likely I
do: I don't pretend to be any better than my neighbors. But that doesn't
matter. If you are so clear-sighted that there's no sending you off
under a happy delusion, it would be mere brutality to urge you to
undergo sea-sickness in the search for such a fate. As you say, it is
attainable here