"'I owe you an apology, Captain,' said he. 'To be plain with you, at
the moment you appeared, I was half expecting a different kind of
visitor, and I fear you received some of the welcome prepared for
him. Overlook it, please, and shake hands; and, to get our business
over,'--he unlocked the cashbox--'here are ten guineas, which I will
ask you to accept from me. We won't call it a gift; we will call it
an acknowledgement for the extra pains you have put into teaching my
son. Tut, man!' said he, as I protested. 'Harry has told us all
about that. I assure you the youngster came near to wearying us,
last holiday, with praise of you.'"
"And so he did," Plinny here interrupted. "That is to say, sir--I--I
mean we were only too glad to listen to him."
"I thank you, ma'am." Captain Branscome bowed to her gravely.
"I will not deny that the Major's words gave me pleasure for the
moment. He, for his part, appeared to be quite another man.
'Twas as if between leaving me and returning to the summer-house a
load had been lifted from his mind. He counted out the guineas,
locked the cashbox again, lit his pipe, and then, seeming to
recollect himself, reached down a clean one from a stack above the
doorway, and insisted upon my filling and smoking with him.
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