“What! Did n't you say just now that you had been among pirates and buccaneers in the Indies?”
“I was among them, but not of them.”
“You mean to say that you were neither a pirate nor a buccaneer?”
“Neither!”
“Then all I can say is that I'm mightily ashamed of you, Dick. I counted on your being at least a pirate. Don't say that you became a merchant; I never could abide dishonesty, Dick.”
“Well, no; I never became just a merchant, Nell—at least, not the sort of merchant that merchants would call a merchant.”
“Oh, then, there's some hope for you yet, Dick. We may be friends still.”
“Friends? Well, I should say so! What did I work for, do you think, through all these years? What did I lay up a store of guineas for—guineas and Spanish doubloons and pieces of eight for——”
“And you have made a fortune, Dick? Think of that! Ah, I fear that you must have been a regular merchant after all; only regular merchants make fortunes in these days.”
“Ay, but some irregular ones do pretty fairly for themselves.”