Chapter 11

"Boatswain!"
"Here, master: what cheer?"
"Good: speak to the mariners; fall to 't
Yarely, or we run ourselves aground: bestir, bestir."
_Tempest._

As Captain Williams wished to show me some favour for the manner in
which I had taken care of the brig, he allowed me as much time ashore
as I asked for. I might never see London again; and, understanding I
had fallen into good company, he threw no obstacle in the way of my
profiting by it. So careful was he, indeed, as to get one of the
consul's clerks to ascertain who the Mertons were, lest I should
become the dupe of the thousands of specious rogues with which London
abounds. The report was favourable, giving us to understand that the
Major had been much employed in the West Indies, where he still held a
moderately lucrative, semi-military appointment, being then in England
to settle certain long and vexatious accounts, as well as to take
Emily, his only child, from school. He was expected to return to the
old, or some other post, in the course of a few months. A portion of
this I gleaned from Emily herself, and it was all very fairly
corroborated by the account of the consul's clerk. There was no doubt
that the Mertons were persons of respectable position; without having
any claims, however, to be placed very high. From the Major, moreover,
I learned he had some American connexions, his father having married
in Boston.

For my part, I had quite as much reason to rejoice at the chance which
threw me in the way of the Mertons, as they had. If I was instrumental
in saving their lives, as was undeniably the case, they taught me more
of the world, in the ordinary social sense of the phrase, than I had
learned in all my previous life. I make no pretensions to having seen
London society; that lay far beyond the reach of Major Merton himself,
who was born the son of a merchant, when merchants occupied a much
lower position in the English social scale than they do to-day, and
had to look to a patron for most of his own advancement. But, he was a
gentleman; maintained the notions, sentiments, and habits of the
caste; and was properly conscious of my having saved his life when it
was in great jeopardy. As for Emily Merton, she got to converse with
me with the freedom of a friend; and very pleasant it was to hear
pretty thoughts expressed in pretty language, and from pretty lips. I
could perceive that she thought me a little rustic and provincial; but
I had not been all the way to Canton to be brow-beaten by a cockney
girl, however clever and handsome. On the whole--and I say it without
vanity, at this late day--I think the impression left behind me, among
these good people, was favourable. Perhaps Clawbonny was not without