Then
I _had_ done well, as even my enemies, if I had any must have
admitted.
CHAPTER XXII.
"Ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats, and
water-rats, water-thieves, and land-thieves; I mean pirates; and
then, there is the peril of waters, winds and rocks: the man is,
notwithstanding, sufficient;--three thousand ducats;--I think I may
take his bond."--_Shylock_.
I saw Grace, and Lucy, and Rupert, and good Mr. Hardinge, every day;
but I could not find time to call on the Mertons, until near the close
of a week. I then paid them a visit, and found them glad to see me,
but not at all in want of my attentions to make them comfortable. The
Major had exhibited his claims to the British consul, who happened to
be a native Manhattanese, and was well-connected, a circumstance that
then gave him an influence in society, that his commission alone would
not have conferred. Colonel Barclay, for so was this gentleman
called, had taken the Mertons by the hand, as a matter of course; and
his example being followed by others, I found that they were already
in the best circle of the place. Emily mentioned to me the names of
several of those with whom she had exchanged visits; and I knew at
once, through Lucy's and Grace's conversation, and from my own general
knowledge of the traditions of the colony and state, that they were
among the leading people of the land, socially if not politically; a
class altogether above any with whom I had myself ever associated.
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