Dick Cheveley | Page 3

a point,
but I had secretly begged my father to write to Sir Reginald as he had
promised, assuring him that I had set my heart on following a naval
career, and that it would break if I was not allowed to go to sea. This
took place, it will be understood, some time before the evening of
which I am now speaking.
Aunt Deb suspected that my father was inclined to favour my wishes,
and this made her speak still more disparagingly than ever of the navy.
Tea was nearly over when the post arrived. It only reached us of an
evening, and Sarah, the maid, brought in a large franked letter. I at once
guessed that it was from Sir Reginald Knowsley, who was in London.
I gazed anxiously at my father's face as he read it. His countenance did
not, however, exhibit any especial satisfaction.
"Who is it from?" asked my mother, in a languid voice. "From Sir
Reginald," he replied. "It is very kind and complimentary. He says that
he has had great pleasure in doing as I requested him. He fortunately,
when going down to the Admiralty, met his friend Captain Grummit,
who has lately been appointed to the `Blaze-away,' man-of-war, and
who expressed his willingness to receive on board his ship the son of
any friend of his, but--and here comes the rub--Captain Grummit, he
says, has made it a rule to take no midshipmen unless their parents
consent to allow them fifty pounds a year, in addition to their pay. This
sum, the Captain states, is absolutely necessary to enable them to make
the appearance he desires all his midshipmen to maintain. Fifty pounds
a year is a larger sum, I fear, than my purse can supply," observed my
father when he had read thus far.
"I should think it was, indeed!" exclaimed Aunt Deb. "Fifty pounds a
year! Why, that's nearly half of my annual income. It would be

madness, John, to make any promise of the sort. Suppose you were to
let him go, and to stint the rest of his brothers and sisters by making
him so large an allowance--what will be the result, granting that he is
not killed in the first battle he is engaged in, or does not fall overboard
and get drowned, or the ship is not wrecked, and he escapes the other
hundred and one casualties to which a sailor is liable? Why, when he
becomes a lieutenant he'll marry to a certainty, and then he'll be killed,
and leave you and his mother and me, or his brothers and sisters, to
look after his widow and children, supposing they are able to do so."
"But I shall have a hundred and twenty pounds full pay, and ninety
pounds a year half-pay," I answered; "I know all about it, I can tell
you."
"Ninety pounds a year and a wife and half-a-dozen small brats to
support on it," exclaimed Aunt Deb in an indignant tone. "The wife is
sure to be delicate, and know nothing about housekeeping, and she and
the children will constantly be requiring the doctor in the house."
"But you are going very far ahead, Aunt Deb, I haven't gone to sea yet,
or been made a lieutenant, and if I had, there's no reason why I should
marry."
"There are a great many reasons why you should not," exclaimed Aunt
Deb.
"I was going to say that there are many lieutenants in the navy who
have not got wives, and I do not suppose that I shall marry when I
become one," I answered.
"It seems pretty certain that you will never be a lieutenant or a
midshipman either, if it depends upon your having an allowance of fifty
pounds a year, for where that fifty pounds is to come from I'm sure I
don't know," cried my aunt. "As it is, your poor father finds it a difficult
matter to find food and clothing for you all, and to give you a proper
education, and unless the Bishop should suddenly bestow a rich living
on him, he, at all events, could not pay fifty pounds a year, or fifty
shillings either, so I would advise you forthwith to give up this mad

idea of yours, and stay quietly at school until a profitable employment
is found for you."
I looked up at my father, feeling that there was a good deal of truth in
what Aunt Deb said, although I did not like the way she said it.
"Your aunt only states what is the case, Dick," said my father. "I should
be glad to forward your views, but I could not venture, with my very
limited income, to bind myself to supply you with the sum which Sir
Reginald says is