Yussuf the Guide | Page 6

deeply moved,
and as the boy let fall his thin white fingers from before his eyes he saw
that the professor was kneeling by his chair ready to take one of his
hands and hold it between his broad palms.
"Lawrence, my boy," he said; "your poor father and I were great friends,
and he was to me as a brother; your mother as a sister. He left me as it
were the care and charge of you, and it seems to me that in my selfish
studies I have neglected my trust; but, Heaven helping me, my boy, I
will try and make up for the past. You shall so with me, my dear lad,
and we will search till we find a place that shall restore you to health
and strength."

"You will take me with you?" cried the boy with a joyous light in his
eyes.
"That I will," cried the professor.
"And when?"
"As soon as you can be moved."
"But," sighed the lad wearily, "it will cost so much."
"Well?" said the professor, "What of that? I am not a poor man. I never
spend my money."
"Oh! if it came to that," said the lawyer, taking some more snuff and
snapping his fingers, "young Lawrence here has a pretty good balance
lying idle."
"Mr Burne, for shame!" cried Mrs Dunn; "here have I been waiting to
hear you speak, and you encourage the wild idea, instead of stamping
upon it like a black beadle."
"Wild idea, ma'am?" cried the lawyer, blowing a defiant blast.
"Yes, sir; to talk about taking that poor weak sickly boy off into foreign
lands among savages, and cannibals, and wild beasts, and noxious
reptiles."
"Stuff, ma'am, stuff!"
"But it isn't stuff, sir. The doctor said--"
"Hang the doctor, ma'am!" cried the lawyer. "The doctor can't cure him,
poor lad, so let's see if we can't do a little better."
"Why, I believe you approve of it, sir!" cried Mrs Dunn with a
horror-stricken look.
"Approve of it, ma'am? To be sure, I do. The very thing. Asia Minor,

didn't you say, Mr Preston?"
The professor bowed.
"Yes; I've heard that you get summer weather there in winter. I think
you have hit the right nail on the head."
"And you approve of it, sir?" cried the boy excitedly.
"To be sure, I do, my lad."
"It will kill him," said Mrs Dunn emphatically.
"Tchah! stuff and nonsense, ma'am!" cried the lawyer. "The boy's too
young and tough to kill. We'll take him out there and make a man of
him."
"We, sir?" exclaimed the professor.
"Yes, sir, we," said the lawyer, taking some more snuff, and dusting his
black waistcoat. "Hang it all! Do you think you are the only man in
England who wants a holiday?"
"I beg your pardon," said the professor mildly; "of course not."
"I haven't had one worth speaking of," continued Mr Burne, "for
nearly--no, quite thirty years, and all that time I've been in dingy stuffy
Sergeant's Inn, sir. Yes; we'll go travelling, professor, and bring him
back a man."
"It will kill him," cried Mrs Dunn fiercely, and ruffling up and coming
forward like an angry hen in defence of her solitary chick, the last the
rats had left.
The lawyer sounded his trumpet, as if summoning his forces to a
charge.
"I say he shall not go."

"Mrs Dunn," began the professor blandly.
"Stop!" cried the lawyer; "send for Doctor Shorter."
"But he has been, sir," remonstrated Mrs Dunn.
"Then let him come again, ma'am. He shall have his fee," cried the
lawyer; "send at once."
Mrs Dunn's lips parted to utter a protest, but the lawyer literally drove
her from the room, and then turned back, taking snuff outrageously, to
where the professor was now seated beside the sick lad.
"That's routing the enemy," cried the lawyer fiercely. "Why, confound
the woman! She told me that the doctor said he ought to be taken to a
milder clime."
"But do you really mean, Mr Burne, that, supposing the doctor gives
his consent, you would accompany us abroad?"
"To be sure I do, sir, and I mean to make myself as unpleasant as I can.
I've a right to do so, haven't I."
"Of course," said the professor coldly.
"And I've a right to make myself jolly if I like, haven't I, sir?"
"Certainly," replied the professor, gazing intently at the fierce grizzled
little man before him, and wondering how much he spent a-year in
snuff.
"It will not cost you anything, and I shall not charge my expenses to the
estate, any more than I shall let you charge yours, sir."
"Of course not, sir," said the professor more coldly still, and beginning
to frown.
"You shall pay your expenses, I'll pay mine,