deck, and
yet be a true British sailor all over. Many of our officers are such,
no doubt of it, every inch of them; but whether a man is the happier
or the better for being an officer, without being in the way born to
it--that's the question. We wouldn't stand in your way, Billy, only
we feel that we shouldn't be to each other what we were. We don't say
that it ought to make a great difference, but it would. That's the
conclusion we've come to. Bless you heartily, boy, we all say,
whatever course you steer.--Your loving godfather, Paul Pringle."

True Blue read the epistle over several times. Though signed by
Pringle, it had partly been written by Abel Bush, and partly by Peter
Ogle. It contained a postscript, inviting him to come down to Emsworth,
whatever the determination he might come to, as his many friends there
were anxious to see him.

The mention of his old friends roused up thoughts and feelings in which,
for some time past, he had not indulged. Both Peter Ogle and Abel Bush
were married men, with large families. With them he felt how perfectly
at home and happy he should be. One of them, too, Mary Ogle, though
rather younger than himself, had always been his counsellor and friend,
and had also materially assisted in giving him the amount of knowledge
he possessed in reading and writing. Had it not been for her, he
confessed that he would have remained a sad dunce.

After he had thought over the letter, he exclaimed, "Then again, now, if
I was an officer I should have to go with the other officers wherever
they went; and when the ship came into port, I should be for starting
off for London, and couldn't go and stay comfortably with my old
friends. No, I'm thankful to Sir Henry--I am, indeed; but I've made up
my mind."

He rang the bell. When John appeared, he asked for his clothes.

"There they are, sir," said John, pointing to the midshipman's uniform.

"I see; but I want the clothes I wore yesterday, John," said True Blue.

"Master said those were for you, sir," explained John.

"I'm not going to put on those clothes, John," said True Blue quietly.
"They don't suit me, and I don't suit them."

The footman was astonished.

"But they will make you an officer and a gentleman," said he earnestly.

"That's just what I don't want to be, John," answered True Blue. "They
wouldn't do it, either. It isn't the clothes makes the man. You know
that. Bring me back my own jacket