You can't expect me to be quiet under it.'
'Let him have money!' cried John, in a drowsy reverie. 'What does he
call money--guineas? Hasn't he got money? Over and above the tolls,
hasn't he one and sixpence?'
'One and sixpence!' repeated his son contemptuously.
'Yes, sir,' returned John, 'one and sixpence. When I was your age, I
had never seen so much money, in a heap. A shilling of it is in case
of accidents--the mare casting a shoe, or the like of that. The other
sixpence is to spend in the diversions of London; and the diversion
I recommend is going to the top of the Monument, and sitting there.
There's no temptation there, sir--no drink--no young women--no bad
characters of any sort--nothing but imagination. That's the way I
enjoyed myself when I was your age, sir.'
To this, Joe made no answer, but beckoning Hugh, leaped into the saddle
and rode away; and a very stalwart, manly horseman he looked, deserving
a better charger than it was his fortune to bestride. John stood staring
after him, or rather after the grey mare (for he had no eyes for her
rider), until man and beast had been out of sight some twenty minutes,
when he began to think they were gone, and slowly re-entering the house,
fell into a gentle doze.
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