e and I watched Tumm pick at the
knot in the table.

"He don't _need_ no sense," said Tumm, looking up, at last; "for he've
_had_ a mother, an' he've _got_ a memory."

'Twas very true, I thought.

XXII

GATHERING WINDS

'Twas by advice of Sir Harry, with meet attention to the philosophy of
Lord Chesterfield in respect to the particular accomplishments
essential to one who would both please and rise in the world, that my
uncle commanded the grand tour to further my education and to cure my
twisted foot. "'Tis the last leg o' the beat, lad;" he pleaded; "ye'll
be a gentleman, made t' order, accordin' t' specifications, when 'tis
over with; an' I'll be wonderful glad," says he, wearily, "when 'tis
done, for I'll miss ye sore, lad--ecod! but I'll miss ye sore."
Abroad, then, despite the gray warning, went John Cather and I, tutor
and young gentleman, the twain not to be distinguished from a company
of high birth. 'Twas a ghastly thing: 'twas a thing so unfit and
grotesque that I flush to think of it--a thing, of all my uncle's
benefits, I wish undone and cannot to this day condone. But that
implacable, most tender old ape, when he bade us God-speed on the
wharf, standing with legs and staff triangularly disposed to steady
him, rippled with pride and admiration to observe the genteel
performance of our departure, and in the intervals of mopping his
red, sweaty, tearful countenance, exhibited, in unwitting caricature,
the defiant consciousness of station he had with infinite pains sought
to have me master.

"Made t' order, lad," says he, at last, when he took my hand,
"accordin' t' the plans an' specifications o' them that knows, an'
quite regardless of expense."

I patted him on the shoulder.

"I wisht," says he, with a regretful wag, "that Tom Callaway could see
ye now. You an' your tooter! If on'y Tom Callaway _could_! I bet ye
'twould perk un up a bit in the place he's to! 'Twould go a long way
towards distractin' his mind," says he, "from the fire an' fumes they
talks so much about in church."

You will be good enough to believe, if you please, that there were
sympathetic tears in my uncle's eyes....

* * * * *

Upon this misguided mission we were gone abroad two years and a
fortnight (deducting one day): and pursuing it we travelled far. And
we came to magnificent cities, and beheld the places and things that
are written of in books, and ate of curious fo