There was a pause. Miss Letty was a trifle vexed,—the other two ladies were merely amused.
“I’ll tell you another thing about him,” said Boy, suddenly warming into confidence. “He buys things off us!”
They all laughed outright.
“Buys things off us!” exclaimed Miss Letty. “Oh, Boy dear, what do you mean?”
“Well, you see, all along the shore there are the most curious things washed in from the sea,” said Boy—“silver spoons and forks, and penknives, and boxes, and sometimes money. Just before I came away I found a gold bracelet in the sand, and Rattling Jack gave me one-and-sixpence for it, and he had it cleaned, and it was solid gold, and he sold it for three pounds. Wasn’t that clever of him?”
Again the laughter broke out, but Miss Letty sighed.
“I don’t think ‘Rattling Jack’ is quite a nice person for you to talk to,” she said. “Does your mother know anything about him?”
“Oh, no! Mother doesn’t know anybody!” answered Boy candidly. “I make my own friends!”
“Well, we don’t want you to be a Rattling Jack!” said the young lady who had before spoken. “We want you to be a brave, honest man, and a gentleman! You must try for the Navy—not the Merchant Navy, but the regular fighting Navy—the Queen’s Navy!”
“Yes—but you never get higher than ‘Admiral’ there!” said Boy, with a matter-of-fact cynicism. “Rattling Jack told me that was just an honour without sufficient pay to keep it up. It isn’t worth working for, I fancy!”