"And now there's hardly a sizeable stick of timber left in the
woods."
"A few years' time and it'll be as thick as ever."
"A few years! A many years, you mean. No, it's not enough to go about
being Captain and commanding--brrrr! and there it is! And he's not even
spokesman for the neighbours now, and you never see folk coming up now to
ask him what he'd say was best to do in this or that...."
"Did you see the Captain down below? Had he come back yet?" I broke in.
"He's just come back. Looked like a skeleton, he did. What was I going to
say?... When are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow," I said.
"So soon?" Lars was all friendliness, and wishing me good luck now; he had
not thought I should be going off at once.
"It's all a chance if I see you again this time," he said. "But I'll tell
you this much, now: you'd do well to stop frittering your life away any
more, and never staying on a place for good. And I say as much here and
now, so mark my words. I dare say I haven't got on so grandly myself, but
I don't know many of our likes have done better, and anyway not you.
Pages:
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465