"
"I dare say it would seem so to _us_; notwithstanding, it may be
very agreeable to those who are used to it--a thing to miss, when one
gets much accustomed to it."
As Lucy made this remark, I detected a furtive and timid glance at
myself. I was mystified at the time, and was actually so silly as to
think the dear girl was talking at me, and to feel a little
resentment. I fancied she wished to say, "There, Master Miles, you
have been in London, and on a desert island in the South Seas--the
very extremes of human habits--and have got to be so sophisticated, so
very un-Clawbonnyish, as to feel the necessity of a _manner_, in
the young ladies with whom you associate." The notion nettled me to a
degree that induced me to pretend duty, and to hurry down to the
ship. Whom should I meet, in Rector Street, but Mr. Hardinge, who had
been across to the Hudson in search of me.
"Come hither, Miles," said the excellent old man, "I wish to converse
with you seriously."
As Lucy was uppermost in my thoughts at the moment, I said to
myself--"What can the dear old gentleman have to say, now?"
"I hear from all quarters the best accounts of you, my dear boy,"
Mr. Hardinge continued, "and I am told you make a very superior
seaman. It is a feather in your cap, indeed, to have commanded an
Indiaman a twelve-month before you are of age.
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