Miss Tippets were
considered the aristocracy, the appearance of so great a woman as Lady
Hercules was an event, and I do not know whether my little sister did
not after that take precedence in the school; at all events, she was
much more carefully instructed and looked after than she had been
before. Sir Hercules was also pleased to find, upon inquiry, that there
was every prospect of my entering the pilot service, without any trouble
on his part. Both Sir Hercules and his lady informed their friends of
what their intentions were to their young _proteges_, and were inundated
with praises and commendations for their kindness, the full extent of
which the reader will appreciate. But, as my mother pointed out as we
walked home, if we did not require their assistance at present, there
was no saying but that we eventually might; and if so, that Sir Hercules
and Lady Hawkingtrefylyan could not well refuse to perform their
promises. I must say that this was the first instance in my
recollection in which my parents appeared to draw amicably together; and
I believe that nothing except regard for their children could have
produced the effect.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

A MOST IMPORTANT PRESENT IS MADE TO ME; AND, AS IT WILL EVENTUALLY
APPEAR, THE GENEROSITY OF THE GIVER IS REWARDED.

Sir Hercules and Lady Hawkingtrefylyan quitted Greenwich the day after
the interview narrated in the preceding chapter, and by that day's post
Anderson received a letter in reply to the one he had written from his
friend Philip Bramble, channel and river pilot, who had, as he said in
his letter, put on shore at Deal, where he resided but the day before,
after knocking about in the Channel for three weeks. Bramble stated his
willingness to receive and take charge of me, desiring that I would hold
myself in readiness to be picked up at a minute's warning, and he would
call for me the first time that he took a vessel up the river. A letter
communicating this intelligence was forthwith dispatched by my mother to
Sir Hercules, who sent a short reply, stating that if I conducted myself
properly he would not lose sight of me. This letter, however, very much
increased the family consequence in Fisher's Alley, for my mother did
not fail to show it to everybody, and everybody was anxious to see the
handwriting of a real baronet.

About a week afterwards I went to the shop of the widow St. Felix to
purchase some tobacco for my father, when she said t