“Only temporarily,” said Edmund; “nothing could keep Jakoub from the gallows in the long run.”
“This kind of thing may be all very well for you. But in my position——”
“I know. It wouldn’t be considered good form in a clergyman. But I assure you nothing will ever come of it—at home. We’re not going ‘East of Suez, where there ain’t no ten commandments,’ but to Egypt and the Levant, where there are so many commandments that nobody can remember them all, or bother very much. Besides, you’ve no responsibility in the matter, anyhow.”
“You forget I’m part owner of this boat.”
“We’ll make that all right. We’ll sign a declaration that you have been shanghaied and brought along under protest. You’ll sign, Welfare?”
“Certainly, if Mr. Davoren thinks it necessary.”
“I don’t want anything of the sort. But you must see it is impossible for me to be so long away from the parish.”
“Why, we heard the bishop telling you to stop away as long as you liked; and it will be a godsend for that poor fellow Snape.”
“Oh! he won’t object, I know. But Bates and Mrs. Rattray will be frantic with anxiety—and all my letters unanswered!”
“We don’t suppose it’s convenient; but on the other hand there’s the chance of making a clear two thousand. Welfare and I can’t afford to risk losing that.”