Read Afloat and Ashore for Free Online Page A

riveted
on my face; and, turning from their anxious expression with a little
uneasiness, I encountered those of Lucy looking at me as intently as
if she doubted whether her ears had not deceived her.
    "A sailor, Miles!"—my sister now slowly repeated—"I thought it
settled you were to study law."
    "As far from that as we are from England; I've fully made up my mind
to see the world if I can, and Rupert, here—"
    "What of Rupert, here?" Grace asked, a sudden change again coming over
her sweet countenance, though I was altogether too inexperienced to
understand its meaning. "
He
is certainly to be a clergyman—his
dear father's assistant, and, a long, long,
very
long time
hence, his successor!"
    I could see that Rupert was whistling on a low key, and affecting to
look cool; but my sister's solemn, earnest, astonished manner had more
effect on us both, I believe, than either would have been willing to
own.
    "Come, girls," I said at length, putting the best face on the matter,
"there is no use in keeping secrets from
you
—but remember that
what I am about to tell you
is
a secret, and on no account is
to be betrayed."
    "To no one but Mr. Hardinge," answered Grace. "If you intend to be a
sailor, he ought to know it."
    "That comes from looking at our duties superficially," I had caught
this phrase from my friend, "and not distinguishing properly between
their shadows and their substance."
    "Duties superficially! I do not understand you, Miles. Certainly
Mr. Hardinge ought to be told what profession you mean to
follow. Remember, brother, he now fills the place of a parent to you."
    "He is not more
my
parent than Rupert's—I fancy you will admit
that much!"
    "Rupert, again! What has Rupert to do with your going to sea?"
    "Promise me, then, to keep my secret, and you shall know all; both you
and Lucy must give me your words. I know you will not break them,
when once given."
    "Promise him, Grace," said Lucy, in a low tone, and a voice that, even
at that age, I could perceive was tremulous. "If we promise, we shall
learn everything, and then may have some effect on these headstrong
boys by our advice."
    "Boys!
You
cannot mean, Lucy, that Rupert is not to be a
clergyman—your father's assistant; that Rupert means to be a sailor,
too?"
    "One never knows what boys will do. Let us promise them, dear; then we
can better judge."
    "I do" promise you, Miles, "said my sister, in a voice so solemn as
almost to frighten me.
    "And I, Miles," added Lucy; but it was so low, I had to lean forward
to catch the syllables.
    "This is honest and right,"—it was honest, perhaps, but very
wrong,—"and it convinces me that you are both reasonable, and will be
of use to us. Rupert and I have both made up our minds, and intend to
be sailors."
    Exclamations followed from both girls, and another long silence
succeeded.
    "As for the law, hang all law!" I continued, hemming, and determined
to speak like a man. "I never heard of a Wallingford who was a
lawyer."
    "But you have
both
heard of Hardinges who were clergymen," said
Grace, endeavouring to smile, though the expression of her countenance
was so painful that even now I dislike to recall it.
    "And sailors, too," put in Rupert, a little more stoutly than I
thought possible. "My father's grandfather was an officer in the
navy."
    "And
my
father was a sailor himself—in the navy, too."
    "But there is no navy in this country now, Miles," returned Lucy, in
an expostulating tone.
    "What of that? There are plenty of ships. The ocean is just as big,
and the world just as wide, as if we had a navy to cover the first. I
see no great objection on that account—do you, Ru?"
    "Certainly not. What we want is to go to sea, and that can be done in
an Indiaman, as well as in a man-of-war."
    "Yes," said I, stretching myself with a little importance. "I fancy
an Indiaman, a vessel that goes all the way to Calcutta, round the
Cape of Good Hope, in the track of Vasquez de Gama, isn't exactly an
Albany sloop."
    "Who is