books, and I
dismissed him."

"Do you mean to say, my dear father, that he, in a respectful manner,
declined entering into partnership from these scruples which you
mention; that he gave you no other offence than expressing his opinion,
and declining your offer?"

"And what would you have more?" replied Mr Trevannion.

"I wish to know where was the insult, the ingratitude, on his part which
you complain of?"

"Simply in refusing the offer. He ought to have felt grateful, and he
was not; and he had no right to give such reasons as he did; for the
reasons were condemning my actions. But you women cannot understand
these things."

"I rather think, my dear father, that we cannot; for I cannot perceive
either the insult or the ingratitude which you complain of, and such I
think will be your own opinion when you have had time to reflect, and
are more cool. Mr Elrington expressed nothing more to-day, when he
stated his dislike to privateering from conscientious motives, than he
did after his return from his confinement in the Tower, when he gave up
the command of the privateer on those very grounds; and then, when still
warm with gratitude to him for his self-devotion, you did not consider
it an insult, but, on the contrary, took him still nearer to you into
your own house. Why, then, should you consider it an insult now?
Neither can I see any ingratitude. You made him an offer, the value of
which, in a worldly point of view, he could not but appreciate, and he
declined it from conscientious motives; declined it, as you acknowledge,
respectfully; proving that he was ready to sacrifice his worldly
interests to what he considered his duty as a Christian. When Mr
Elrington told me that you had dismissed him, I felt so certain that he
must have been guilty of some unpardonable conduct towards you to have
induced you to have resorted to such a step, that I did not credit him
when he asserted the contrary. I could not believe, as a daughter,
anything so much to the prejudice of my own father, and so much at
variance with his general conduct. I now feel that I have been most
unjust to Mr Elrington, and conducted myself towards him in a way which
I bitterly regret, and hope by some means to be able to express my
contrition for--"

"Amy--Amy," said Mr Trevannion, severely, "are you blinded by regard
for this young man, that you side against your own father? Am I to
understand that you have given your affections withou