have adopted for so long a journey.

"But I've got a couple of Holland blouses in one of my portmanteaus," he
said to Lawrence, "and these I shall wear when we get into a hotter
country."

At Folkestone, Lawrence showed no fatigue; on the contrary, when the
professor suggested staying there for the night he looked disappointed,
and begged that they might cross to Boulogne, as he was so anxious to
see France.

Judging that it was as well not to disappoint him, and certainly
advisable to take advantage of a lovely day with a pleasant breeze for
the crossing, the professor decided to proceed--after a short
conversation between the two elders, when a little distant feeling was
removed, for the professor had felt that the lawyer was not going to
turn out a very pleasant travelling companion.

"What do you think, sir?" he had said to the fierce-looking little man,
who kept on attracting attention by violently blowing his nose.

"I'll tell you what I think, professor," was the reply. "It seems to me
that the boy is a little sore and upset with his parting from his old
nurse. Milk-soppish, but natural to one in his state. He wants to get
right away, so as to forget the trouble in new impressions. Then, as
you see, the journey so far has not hurt him, and he feels well enough
to go on. Sign, sir, that nature says he is strong enough, so don't
thwart him. Seems to me, sir--_snuff, snuff, snuff_--that the way to do
him good is to let him have his own way, so long as he doesn't want to
do anything silly. Forward!"

So they went forward, a couple of the steamer's men lifting Lawrence
carefully along the gangway and settling him in a comfortable part of
the deck, which he preferred to going below; and ten minutes later the
machinery made the boat quiver, the pier seemed to be running away, and
the professor said quietly: "Good-bye to England."

The sea proved to be more rough than it had seemed from the pier, and,
out of about seventy passengers, it was not long before quite sixty had
gone below, leaving the deck very clear; and the professor, who kept
walking up and down, while the lawyer occupied a seat near Lawrence,
kept watching the invalid narrowly.

But there was no sign of illness. The lad looked terribly weak and
delicate, but his eyes were bright, and the red spots on his cheeks were
unchanged.

"I say, Preston," said the lawyer, when they had been to sea about a
quarter of an hour, "you look very pale: