"I think I shall call him from this date Frederick Nelson Layard."
"Don't be ridiculous, Alfred."
"Or Frederick Cochrane Layard."
"O, don't, please, Alfred."
"It is well to be prepared for fame, and we should always take care that our children are prepared for fame and what more simple and inexpensive preparation can a man have for fame than to be suited, clothed, I may say, in a name becoming fame? Hetty, my dear, remind me in the morning to decide which of these names I shall finally adopt; it is a matter that admits of no delay. I would not think of calling him Frederick Drake Layard for all the world, because in the first place the name Drake in connection with water suggests a whole lot of frivolous jests, always an abomination to me; and in the second place, there was too much of the buccaneer about Drake. Hetty, don't forget to remind me of the matter in the morning. The boy wasn't sea-sick, I hope?"
The girl only sighed this time. She had now lost all sense of uneasiness about the part she had played in the affair of the morning.
"You know," he went on in a tone of pleasant reverie, "I think something ought to be done with the surname too. It would be well to be ready at every point. All you have to do is to write in an n, and you have a distinctly nautical flavour. How do you like Frederick Nelson Cochrane Lanyard? But there--there--my girl, don't answer me now. It is, you would naturally say, too important a question to be decided offhand. Think of the matter to-night. Sleep on the idea, my dear Hetty, and let me have your decision in the morning. If in the dead waste and middle of the night any difficulties which you think I could solve arise in your mind, do not fail to call me. I shall be happy to give you any assistance in my power."
"Are you out of breath, Alfred? I hope you are."
"No, but I am out of tea. Another cup, please, and let us dismiss business from our minds. Let us unbend. It weakens the bow to keep it always bent. Tell me, what is this man, our next-door neighbour, like? I have a theory myself that he is a coiner."
"Well, if he is a coiner you must not think he uses much of his ill-gotten gold in buying clothes. He's dreadfully shabby. But, whatever else he may be, he is a gentleman."