“I trust you never will. My desire is to live forever in your memory.”
She looked troubled and frightened, and then sorry, as though she had pained me.
“You have said you will give up the sea when you arrive in England?”
“Oh, yes; I shall have been three years continuously at sea when I reach home. I’ll take a home and settle down ashore.”
“Is your fortune in the Spanish dollars all that you possess?”
“All. It is seven thousand pounds.” I pronounced these figures with emphasis.
“It is not much,” she exclaimed.
“Indeed! I think it a very good fortune.”
“For a single man—si; but put it out at interest, and what you receive shall not be handsome. Oh, it is a fortune for a bachelor—yes, but in no country, not even in Germany would it be regarded as a handsome fortune for one who would live in style. Vaya! Have I not advised you to buy a ship and trade with distant nations, and end your days as rich as a prince of the blood royal of England?”
“I do not intend to take your advice,” said I. “I will not risk my money in adventures. What I have I will keep. It is a considerable sum—it is enough for two.”