"Very likely," said I. "The like has happened to other rash meddlers before you."
"I declare to you I had no thought—" he began. But I interrupted him:
"'No thought,' indeed! I bring you here to resolve me, if you can, a curious puzzle in archaeology, and you fall to playing devil's pranks upon a half-witted child. 'No thought!'—I believe you, sir."
"And yet," he muttered, "it is an amazing business: the sand—the velarium—the outstretched arm and hand—pollice compresso—the exact gesture of the gladiatorial shows—"
"Are you telling me, pray, of gladiatorial shows under the Eastern
Empire?" I demanded scornfully.
"Certainly not: and that," he mused, "only makes it the more amazing."
"Now, look here," said I, halting in the middle of the road, "I'll hear no more of it. Here is my gate, and there lies the highroad, on to Porthlooe or back to Plymouth, as you please. I wish you good morning, sir; and if it be any consolation to you, you have spoiled my digestion for a week."
I am bound to say the young man took his dismissal with grace.
He halted then and there and raised his hat; stood for a moment
pondering; and, turning on his heel, walked quickly off towards
Porthlooe.
It must have been a week before I learnt casually that he had obtained employment there as secretary to a small company owning the Lord Nelson and the Hand-in-hand privateers. His success, as you know, was rapid; and naturally in a gossiping parish I heard about it—a little here, a little there—in all a great deal. He had bought the Providence schooner; he had acted as freighter for Minards' men in their last run with the Morning Star; he had slipped over to Cork and brought home a Porthlooe prize illegally detained there; he was in London, fighting a salvage case in the Admiralty Court; . . . Within twelve months he was accountant of every trading company in Porthlooe, and agent for receiving the moneys due to the Guernsey merchants. In 1809, as you know, he opened his bank and issued notes of his own. And a year later he acquired two of the best farms in the parish, Tresawl and Killifreeth, and held the fee simple of the harbour and quays.
During the first two years of his prosperity I saw little of the man. We passed each other from time to time in the street of Porthlooe, and he accosted me with a politeness to which, though distrusting him, I felt bound to respond. But he never offered conversation, and our next interview was wholly of my seeking.