ger to me,
leaving the Agreement as it is between you and Fuller. But you must
send the Agreement here for him to see.

"As we shall provide that the Lugger when built shall belong to me; so
we will provide that, in case of my dying _before_ she is built, you
may come on my executors for any money due.

"I think you will believe that I shall propose, and agree to, nothing
which is not for your good. For surely I should not have meddled with
it at all, but for that one purpose.

"And now, Poshy, I mean to read you a short Sermon, which you can keep
till Sunday to read. You know I told you of _one_ danger--and I do
think the only one--you are liable to--_Drink_.

"I do not the least think you are _given_ to it: but you have, and
will have, so many friends who will press you to it: perhaps _I_
myself have been one. And when you keep so long without _food_;
_could_ you do so, Posh, without a Drink--of some your bad Beer
[_sic_] too--now and then? And then, does not the Drink--and of bad
Stuff--take away Appetite for the time? And will, if continued, so
spoil the stomach that it will not bear anything _but_ Drink. And
this evil comes upon us gradually, without our knowing how it grows.
That is why I warn you, Posh. If I am wrong in thinking you want my
warning, you must forgive me, believing that I should not warn at all
if I were not much interested in your welfare. I know that you do
your best to keep out at sea, and watch on shore, for anything that
will bring home something for Wife and Family. But do not do so at
any such risk as I talk of.

"I say, I tell you all this for your sake: and something for my own
also--not as regards the Lugger--but because, thinking you, as I do,
so good a Fellow, and being glad of your Company; and taking
_Pleasure_ in seeing you prosper; I should now be sorely vext if you
went away from what I believe you to be. Only, whether you do well or
ill, _show me all above-board_, as I really think you have done; and
do not let a poor old, solitary, and sad Man (as I really am, in spite
of my Jokes), do not, I say, let me waste my Anxiety in vain.

"I thought I had done with new Likings: and I had a more easy Life
perhaps on that account: _now_ I shall often think of you with
uneasiness, for the very reason that I have so much Liking and
Interest for you.

"There--th