"If such a thing could be!"
"Such things have been a thousand times. History is rich in them."
"I might do something, yet never anything great enough to offer to you."
"It must mean that you went far away, and I don't think I could let you go. And yet——"
"The thought is too grand even for hope. Who am I that I should ever win a commission in His Majesty's Army?"
"You are the son of a good soldier. The time cries for soldiers; but no, I couldn't let you—oh, dear, gentle John, I couldn't. Perchance Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt might—but I can't plot the details in cold blood, and I wish heartily I'd never thought of such a horrid idea at all. You shall not go to the wars for me. You must shine in a peaceful part."
"Fighting's the only sure quick way to success in these days. How to get Mr. Malherb's good word?"
"I've thought of that already. I've been thinking of it ever since you told me, and hating myself for thinking with such a hard heart. You've got a grandmother, and she is shrewdly suspected of a great crime. If, indeed, she robbed dear father, and you could prove it——"
"If I could find the amphora and bring it to him!"
"You must do so! That is what lies before you."