s he, lighting a cigarro. "Put Simon out of
his house--and make an enemy of him," adds he, betwixt two puffs of
smoke, "seize his securities, sell them for what they will fetch, and
get out of the country as quickly as possible. If the securities be
worth one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, we may" (puff)
"possibly" (puff) "get forty thousand for them" (puff), "about a third
of their value--not more. That yields us ten thousand apiece. On ten
thousand pounds a man may live like a prince--in Spain. The other way is
to make a friend of Simon by restoring him to his office, suffer him to
treble the worth of the estate again in the next ten years, and live
like kings" (puff) "in England."

"Pray, which way do you incline, Senor?" says I.

"Being a Spaniard," answers he, gravely, "I should prefer to live like a
prince in Spain."

"That would not I," says Dawson, stoutly. "A year and a half of Elche
have cured me of all fondness for foreign parts. Besides, 'tis a
beggarly, scurvy thing to fly one's country, as if we had done some
unhandsome, dishonest trick. If I faced an Englishman, I should never
dare look him straight in the eyes again. What say you, Mr. Hopkins?"

"Why, Evans," says I, "you know my will without telling. I will not, of
my own accord, go from your choice, which way you will."

"Since we owe everything to Mistress Judith," observes the Don, "and as
she is no longer a child, ought not her wishes to be consulted?"

"No," says Jack, very decidedly, and then, lowering his voice, he adds,
"for was she Judith Godwin ten times told, and as old as my grandmother
into the bargain, she is still my daughter, and shall do as I choose her
to do. And if, as you say, we owe her everything, then I count 'twould
be a mean, dirty return to make her live out of England and feel she has
a sneaking coward for a father."

"As you please," says the Don. "Give me ten thousand of the sum you are
to be paid at Michaelmas, and you are welcome to all the rest."

"You mean that, Senor," cries Jack, seizing the Don's hand and raising
his left.

"By the Holy Mother," answers Don Sanchez, in Spanish.

"Done!" cries Dawson, bringing his hand down with a smack on the Don's
palm. "Nay, I always believed you was the most generous man living. Ten
from t'other. Master Hopkins," says he, turning to me, "what does that
leave us?"

"More than a hundred thousand!"

"The Lord be praised for evermore!" cries Jack.

Upon this,