"Then do so," snapped the Squire. "Your mother and father were both my servants, and you were born at Beckleigh. As your parents are dead, I have a right to look after you."
"Do you think that I need looking after, sir?" asked Pentreddle, with a faint smile and a glance at his stalwart figure in the near mirror.
"You know what I mean, Harry. I wish to see you married to Isa and commanding a ship of your own. I intend to help you to get one."
"It is very good of you, sir."
"Not at all. You were born on the estate. And now that your future is settled, suppose you tell me why you didn't come back before?"
"If I tell you, sir, will you promise to keep what I say secret?"
"Yes--that is, in a way. I may tell my nephew Theodore, perhaps my other nephew--I can't say."
"I don't mind anyone in Beckleigh knowing," said Harry hastily, "but I do not wish the whole world to know."
"I am not acquainted with the whole world," said Colpster dryly, "so there is no chance of what you say being told to the entire inhabitants of this planet. Are you satisfied?"
"Quite. Well, then, sir, I went to Amsterdam to wait for a ship which I know is going to Japan. She is coming from Callao and is late."