rewarded; and, as
Jack told him to be very careful of his letter, the Italian naturally
concluded that it was to be delivered clandestinely, and he delivered it
accordingly, at a time when Agnes was walking in the garden thinking of
our hero. Nothing was more opportune than the arrival of the letter;
Agnes ran to the pavilion, read it over twenty times, kissed it twenty
times, and hid it in her bosom; sat for a few minutes in deep and placid
thought, took the letter out of its receptacle, and read it over and
over again. It was very bad Spanish and very absurd, but she thought it
delightful, poetical, classical, sentimental, argumentative, convincing,
incontrovertible, imaginative, and even grammatical, for if it was not
good Spanish, there was no Spanish half so good. Alas! Agnes was,
indeed, unsophisticated, to be in such ecstasies with a midshipman's
love-letter. Once more she hastened to her room to weep, but it was
from excess of joy and delight. The reader may think Agnes silly, but
he must take into consideration the climate, and that she was not yet
fifteen.

Our young gentlemen sent for a tailor and each ordered a new suit of
clothes; they delivered their letters of recommendation, and went to the
banker to whom they were addressed by Don Rebiera.

"I shall draw for ten pounds, Jack," said Gascoigne, "on the strength of
the shipwreck; I shall tell the truth, all except that we forgot to ask
for leave, which I shall leave out; and I am sure the story will be
worth ten pounds. What shall you draw for, Jack?"

"I shall draw for two hundred pounds," replied Jack; "I mean to have a
good cruise while I can."

"But will your governor stand that, Easy?"

"To be sure he will."

"Then you're right--he is a philosopher--I wish he'd teach mine, for he
hates the sight of a bill."

"Then don't you draw, Ned--I have plenty for both. If every man had his
equal share and rights in the world, you would be as able to draw as
much as I; and, as you cannot, upon the principles of equality, you
shall have half."

"I really shall become a convert to your philosophy, Jack; it does not
appear to be so nonsensical as I thought it. At all events it has saved
my old governor ten pounds, which he can ill afford, as a colonel on
half-pay."

On their return to the inn, they found Don Philip and Don Martin, to
whom Don Rebiera had written, who welcomed them with open arms. They
were two very fine young men of eighteen an