Yussuf the Guide | Page 8

first-class
carriage, and seated in a snug corner, when one of them touched his cap
and exclaimed:
"Glad to see you come back, sir, strong enough to carry me. Pore young
chap!" he said to his mate; "it do seem hard at his time o' life."
"Hang the fellow!" cried the lawyer; "so it does at any time of life. I

don't want to be carried by a couple of porters."
Then there was a quick run down to Folkestone, with the patient
tenderly watched by his two companions, the professor looking less
eccentric in costume, for he had trusted to his tailor to make him some
suitable clothing; but the lawyer looking more so, for he had insisted
upon retaining his everyday-life black frock-coat and check trousers,
the only change he had made being the adoption of a large leghorn
straw hat with a black ribbon; on the whole as unsuitable a costume as
he could have adopted for so long a journey.
"But I've got a couple of Holland blouses in one of my portmanteaus,"
he said to Lawrence, "and these I shall wear when we get into a hotter
country."
At Folkestone, Lawrence showed no fatigue; on the contrary, when the
professor suggested staying there for the night he looked disappointed,
and begged that they might cross to Boulogne, as he was so anxious to
see France.
Judging that it was as well not to disappoint him, and certainly
advisable to take advantage of a lovely day with a pleasant breeze for
the crossing, the professor decided to proceed--after a short
conversation between the two elders, when a little distant feeling was
removed, for the professor had felt that the lawyer was not going to
turn out a very pleasant travelling companion.
"What do you think, sir?" he had said to the fierce-looking little man,
who kept on attracting attention by violently blowing his nose.
"I'll tell you what I think, professor," was the reply. "It seems to me that
the boy is a little sore and upset with his parting from his old nurse.
Milk-soppish, but natural to one in his state. He wants to get right away,
so as to forget the trouble in new impressions. Then, as you see, the
journey so far has not hurt him, and he feels well enough to go on. Sign,
sir, that nature says he is strong enough, so don't thwart him. Seems to
me, sir--snuff, snuff, snuff--that the way to do him good is to let him
have his own way, so long as he doesn't want to do anything silly.

Forward!"
So they went forward, a couple of the steamer's men lifting Lawrence
carefully along the gangway and settling him in a comfortable part of
the deck, which he preferred to going below; and ten minutes later the
machinery made the boat quiver, the pier seemed to be running away,
and the professor said quietly: "Good-bye to England."
The sea proved to be more rough than it had seemed from the pier, and,
out of about seventy passengers, it was not long before quite sixty had
gone below, leaving the deck very clear; and the professor, who kept
walking up and down, while the lawyer occupied a seat near Lawrence,
kept watching the invalid narrowly.
But there was no sign of illness. The lad looked terribly weak and
delicate, but his eyes were bright, and the red spots on his cheeks were
unchanged.
"I say, Preston," said the lawyer, when they had been to sea about a
quarter of an hour, "you look very pale: if you'd like to go below I'll
stay with him."
"Thanks, no," was the reply; "I prefer the deck. How beautiful the
chalky coast looks, Lawrence!"
"Yes, lovely," was the reply; "but I was trying to look forward to see
France. I want to see health. Looking back seems like being ill."
The professor nodded, and said that the French coast would soon be
very plain, and he stalked up and down, a magnificent specimen of
humanity, with his great beard blown about by the wind, which sought
in vain to play with his closely-cut hair.
"I'm sure you had better go below, professor. You look quite white,"
said the lawyer again; but Mr Preston laughed.
"I am quite well," he said; and he took another turn up and down to
look at the silvery foam churned up by the beating paddles.

"Look here!" cried the lawyer again, as the professor came and stood
talking to Lawrence; "had you not better go down?"
"No. Why go down to a cabin full of sick people, when I am enjoying
the fresh air, and am quite well?"
"But are you really quite well?"
"Never better in my life."
"Then it's too bad, sir," cried the lawyer.