With Clive in India | Page 5

lamps do not burn very brightly, and
the fog is coming on. I thought that, if it grew thicker, I might lose my
way, and in that case I might not have been in at the hour you named
for supper."
"Humph!" the other gentleman grunted. "So your mother has taught
you to be punctual to meals. But, no; boys' appetites teach them to be
punctual then, if never at any other time.
"And why, sir?" he asked severely, "Did my niece not write to me
before?"
"I don't know, sir," Charlie said. "I suppose she did not like--that is, she
didn't think--that is--"
"Think, sir! Like, sir!" said his uncle. "What right had she either to
think or to like? Her duty clearly was to have made me acquainted, at
once, with all the circumstances. I suppose I had a right to say whether
I approved of my grandnieces going tramping about the world as
governesses, or not. It isn't because a woman chooses, by her folly, to
separate herself from her family, that they are to be deprived of their
rights in a matter of this kind. Eh, sir, what do you say to that?" and Mr.
Tufton looked very angry, indeed.
"I don't know, sir," Charlie said. "I have never thought the matter over."
"Why, sir, suppose she had made you a tinker, sir, and you turned out a

thief, as likely as not you would have done, and you'd been hung, sir,
what then? Am I to have such discredit as this brought upon me,
without my having any option in the matter?"
"I suppose not, sir," Charlie said. "I hope I shouldn't have turned out a
thief, even if I'd been a tinker; but perhaps it was because my mother
feared that this might be the case, that she did give you the option."
His uncle looked at him keenly; but Charlie, though with some
difficulty, maintained the gravest face.
"It is well she did so," Mr. Tufton said; "very well. If she had not done
so, I should have known the reason why. And you, sir, do you like the
thought of going to India?"
"Yes, Uncle, I like the thought very much, though I would rather, if I
may say so, have gone as a cadet."
"I thought so," Mr. Tufton said, sarcastically. "I was sure of it. You
wanted to wear a red coat and a sword, and to swagger about the streets
of Calcutta, instead of making an honorable living and acquiring a
fortune."
"I don't think, sir," Charlie said, "that the idea of the red coat and sword
entered into my mind; but it seemed to me the choice of a life of
activity and adventure, against one as a mere clerk."
"Had you entered the military service of the Company, even if you
didn't get shot, you could only hope to rise to the command of a
regiment, ranking with a civilian very low down on the list. The
stupidity of boys is unaccountable. It's a splendid career, sir, that I have
opened to you; but if I'd known that you had no ambition, I would have
put you into my own counting house; though there, that wouldn't have
done either, for I know you would have blotted the ledger, and turned
all the accounts topsy-turvy.
"And now, sir, supper is ready;" and the old gentleman led the way into
the next room.

Upon the following day Charlie was introduced, by his uncle, to the
director who had given him his nomination, and was told by him that
the board would sit upon the following day, and that he must call at the
India House, at eleven o'clock. The ordeal was not a formidable one.
He was shown into a room where eight or ten elderly gentlemen were
sitting round a large table. Among these was his friend of the day
before. He was asked a question or two about his age, his father's
profession, and his place of education. Then the gentleman at the head
of the table nodded to him, and said he could go, and instructions
would be sent to him, and that he was to prepare to sail in the Lizzie
Anderson, which would leave the docks in ten days' time, and that he
would be, for the present, stationed at Madras.
Much delighted at having got through the ordeal so easily, Charlie
returned to his uncle's. He did not venture to penetrate into the latter's
counting house, but awaited his coming upstairs to dinner, to tell him
the news.
"Humph!" said his uncle; "it is lucky they did not find out what a fool
you were, at once. I was rather afraid that even the two minutes would
do it. After dinner, I will send my