arber paused in his
snipping, and turned about for a thoughtful look at the hat.

"I mean I'll buy another, of a different shape. First the beard, then
the headgear--as I was tellin' Toy, a man ashore can reggilate his ways
as he chooses, an here's to prove it."

"They _do_ say a clean shave is worth two virtuous resolutions,"
answered the barber, shaking his head Again. "And you're makin' a brave
start, I don't deny. But wait till you pick up with a few real habits."

"What sort o' habits?"

"The sort that come to man first-along in the shape o' duties--like
church-goin'. Look here, Cap'n, I'll lay a wager with 'ee. . . .
Soon as you begin to walk about this town a bit, you'll notice a
terrible lot o' things that want improvin'--"

"I don't need to walk off the Town Quay for _that_."

"Ah, an' I daresay it came into your head that if you had the orderin'
of Bussa you wouldn' be long about it? The town'll think it, anyway.
We're a small popilation in Troy, all tied up in neighbourly feelin's
an' hangin' together till--as the sayin' is--you can't touch a cobweb
without hurtin' a rafter. What the town's cryin' out for is a new
broom--a man with ideas, eh, Mr Philp?--above all, a man who's
independent. So first of all they'll flatter ye up into standin' for
the Parish Council, and put ye head o' the poll--"

"Tut, man!" interrupted Captain Cai, flushing a little. "What do I know
about such things? Not o' course that I shan't take an interest--as a
ratepayer--"

"_To_ be sure. I heard a man say, only last Saturday, sittin' in that
very chair, as there was never a ship's captain hauled ashore but in
three weeks he'd be ready to teach the Chancellor of th' Exchequer his
business an' inclined to wonder how soon he'd be offered the job."

"A ship's captain needn't be altogether a born fool."

"No: an' next you'll be bent on larnin' to speak in public; and takin'
occasions to practise, secondin' votes o' thanks an' such like.
After that you'll be marryin' a wife--"

"I don't want to marry a wife, I tell 'ee!"

"Who said you did? Well, then, you'll get married--they dotes on a
public man as a rule; and for tanglin' a man up in habits there's no
snare like wedlock, not in the whole world. I've known scores o' men
get married o' purpose to break clear o' their habits an' take a fresh
start; but ne'er a man that didn't tie himself up thereby in twenty new
habits for e'er a one he'd let drop."

"Go on with