Yussuf the Guide | Page 9

"I've been waiting to see you
give up, and if you will not, I must, for there's something wrong with
this boat."
"Nonsense! One of the best boats on the line."
"Then, there's something wrong with me. I can't enjoy my snuff, and it's
all nonsense for this boy to be called an invalid. I'm the invalid, sir, and
I am horribly ill. Help me below, there's a good fellow."
Mr Burne looked so deplorably miserable, and at the same time so
comic, that it was impossible to avoid smiling, and as he saw this he
stamped his foot.
"Laughing at me, eh? Both of you. Now, look here. I know you both feel
so poorly that you don't know what to do, and I'll stop up on deck and
watch you out of spite."
"Nonsense! I could not help smiling," said the professor
good-humouredly. "Let me help you down."
"Thank you, no," said the lawyer taking off his hat to wipe his moist
brow, and then putting it on again, wrong way first. "I'm going to stop
on deck, sir--to stop on deck."
He seemed to be making a tremendous effort to master the qualmish
feeling that had attacked him, and in this case determination won.
A night at Boulogne, and at breakfast-time next morning Lawrence

seemed no worse for the journey, so they went on at once to Paris,
where a day's rest was considered advisable, and then, the
preliminaries having been arranged, the train was entered once more,
and after two or three stoppages to avoid over-wearying the patient,
Trieste was reached, where a couple of days had to be passed before
the arrival of the steamer which was to take them to Smyrna, and
perhaps farther, though the professor was of opinion that it might be
wise to make that the starting-place for the interior.
But when the steamer arrived a delay of five days more ensued before a
start was made; and all this time the invalid's companions watched him
anxiously.
It was in these early days a difficult thing to decide, and several times
over the professor and Mr Burne nearly came to an open rupture-- one
sufficiently serious to spoil the prospects of future friendly feeling.
But these little tiffs always took place unknown to Lawrence, who
remained in happy ignorance of what was going on.
The disagreements generally happened something after this fashion.
Lawrence would be seated in one of the verandahs of the hotel enjoying
the soft warm sea-breeze, and gazing out at the scene glowing in all the
brightness of a southern sun, when the old lawyer would approach the
table where, out of the lad's sight and hearing, the professor was seated
writing.
The first notice the latter had of his fellow-traveller's approach would
be the loud snapping of the snuff-box, which was invariably followed by
a loud snuffling noise, and perhaps by a stentorian blast. Then the
lawyer would lean his hand upon the table where the professor was
writing with:
"Really, my dear sir, you might put away your pens and ink for a bit.
I've left mine behind. Here, I want to talk to you."
The professor politely put down his pen, leaned back in his chair and

folded his arms.
"Hah! that's better," said Mr Burne. "Now we can talk. I wanted to
speak to you about that boy."
"I am all attention," said the professor.
"Well, sir, there's a good German physician here as well as the English
one. Don't you think we ought to call both in, and let them have a
consultation?"
"What about?" said the professor calmly.
"About, sir? Why, re Lawrence."
"But he seems certainly better, and we have Doctor Snorter's remedies
if anything is necessary."
"Better, sir? decidedly worse. I have been watching him this morning,
and he is distinctly more feeble."
"Why, my dear Mr Burne, he took my arm half an hour ago, and
walked up and down that verandah without seeming in the least
distressed."
"Absurd, sir!"
"But I assure you--"
"Tut, tut, sir! don't tell me. I watch that boy as I would an important
case in a court of law. Nothing escapes me, and I say he is much
worse."
"Really, I should be sorry to contradict you, Mr Burne," replied the
professor calmly; "but to me it seems as if this air agreed with him, and
I should have said that, short as the time has been since he left home,
he is better."
"Worse, sir, worse decidedly."

"Really, Mr Burne, I am sorry to differ from you," replied the professor
stiffly; "but I must say that Lawrence is, to my way of thinking,
decidedly improved."
"Pah! Tchah! Absurd!" cried the lawyer; and he went off blowing his
nose.
Another day he met the professor, who