My father was even more
delighted than I, and that evening produced a bottle of old rum,
which was part of his ship's stock, and had gone all through his
action, and been in his cellar ever since. And we three in the
parlor, and old Burt and his wife in the kitchen, finished it
that night; the boatswain, I must own, taking the lion's share.
The Vicar took occasion, in the course of the evening, to hint
that it was only poor men who took these places at the
University; and that I might find some inconvenience, and suffer
some annoyance, by not being exactly in the same position as
other men. But my dear old father would not hear of it; I was now
going to be in amongst the very pick of English gentlemen--what
could it matter whether I had money or not? That was the last
thing which real gentlemen thought of. Besides, why was I to be
so very poor? He should be able to allow me whatever would be
necessary to make me comfortable. 'But, Jack,' he said suddenly,
later in the evening, 'one meets low fellows everywhere. You have
met them, I know, often at the confounded school, and will meet
them again. Never you be ashamed of your poverty, my boy.' I
promised readily enough, for I didn't think I could be more tried
in that way than I had been already. I had lived for three years
amongst people whose class notoriously measured all things by a
money standard; now that was all over, I thought. It's easy
making promises in the dark. The Vicar, however, would not let
the matter rest; so we resolved ourselves into a Committee of
Ways and Means, and my father engaged to lay before us an exact
statement of his affairs next day. I went to the door with the
Vicar, and he told me to come and see him in the morning.

"I half-guessed what he wanted to see me for. He knew all my
father's affairs perfectly well, and wished to prepare me for
what was to come in the evening. 'Your father,' he said, 'is one
of the most liberal men I ever met; he is almost the only person
who gives anything to the schools and other charities in this
parish, and he gives to the utmost. You would not wish him, I
know, to cut off these gifts, which bring the highest reward with
them, when they are made in the spirit in which he makes them.
Then he is getting old, and you would never like him to deny
himself the comforts (and few enough they are) which he is used
to. He has nothing but his half-pay to live on; and out of that
he pays 50L a year for insurance; for