“I conceive them, for I have seen them aforetime. But I would not have such a conscience for the worth of the Queen’s Mint.”
Indeed, Jack did seem perfectly happy. His appetite, sleep, and spirits, were totally unaffected by his circumstances. Clare, to whom this anomaly seemed preposterous, one day asked him if he were happy.
“Happy?” repeated Jack. “For sure! Wherefore no?”
Clare did not tell him.
One evening in the week of Jack’s return, to the surprise of all, in walked Mr John Feversham. He did not seem to have much to say, except that Uncle Piers and Aunt Lucrece were well. In fact, he never had much to say. Nor did he think it necessary to state what had brought him to Lancashire. He was asked to remain, of course, to which he assented, and slipped into his place with a quiet ponderosity which seemed to belong to him.
“An oaken yule-log had as much sense, and were quicker!” (livelier) said Jack aside to Blanche.
“Nay, he wanteth not for sense, I take it,” returned his sister, “but of a truth he is solid matter.”
“I marvel if he ever gat into debt,” observed Clare quietly from the other side of Jack.
“He!” sneered that young gentleman. “He is the fashion of man that should pay all his trade-debts and ne’er ask for a rebate.”