"By the time the
law business is over, one may look in vain for such a chance. It is
a new country too, and you always said you wanted to know how those
fellows with long-tailed names lived in private life."
Both brothers talked for an hour, till they hoped they had persuaded
him that even for the most miserable and disappointed being on earth
the Hungarian castle might prove an interesting variety, and they
left him at last with the letter before him, undertaking to write and
make further inquiries.
The next day, however, just as Jock was about to set forth,
intending, as far as might be, to keep him up to the point, Bobus
made his appearance, and scornfully held out an envelope. There was
the letter, and therewith these words:—-
"On consideration, I recur to my first conclusion, that this
situation is out of the question. To say nothing of the injury to my
health and nerves from agitation and suspense, rendering me totally
unfit for drudgery and annoyance, I cannot feel it right to place
myself in a situation equivalent to the abandonment of all hope. It
is absurd to act as if we were reduced to abject poverty, and I will
never place myself in the condition of a dependent. This season has
so entirely knocked me up that I must at once have sea air, and by
the time you receive this I shall be on my way to Ryde for a cruise
in the Petrel.
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