Newton then entered into a narrative of his adventures, to the astonishment of Nicholas, who heard him with open mouth.

“Dear me! so you’ve been in a man-of-war, and in France; then you don’t know how your poor mother is?”

“Have you not inquired, my dear father?”

“No, I thought you would come home, and tell me all about it,” replied Nicholas, with a sigh.

“How have you got on here?” said Newton, to change the conversation.

“Very bad indeed, Newton,—­very bad indeed; I have not had six jobs since you left me.”

“I am sorry to hear it, father; have you anything to eat in the house, for I am very hungry?”

“I am afraid not much,” replied Nicholas, going to the cupboard, and producing some bread and cheese.  “Can you eat bread and cheese, my dear boy?”

“I could eat a horse, my dear father,” replied Newton, who had walked the last twelve hours without sustenance.

Newton attacked the provender, which soon disappeared.

“I have been obliged to sell most of the shop furniture,” said Nicholas, observing Newton to cast his eyes at the empty window.  “I could not help it.  I believe nobody wears spectacles in Liverpool.”

“It can’t be helped, father; we must hope for better times.”

“Yes, we must trust in God, Newton.  I sold my watch yesterday, and that will feed us for some time.  A sailor came into the shop, and asked if I had any watches to sell:  I told him that I only repaired them at present; but that when my improvement in the duplex—­” Here Nicholas forgot the thread of his narrative, and was commencing a calculation upon his intended improvement, when Newton interrupted him.

“Well, sir, what did the sailor reply?”

“Oh!  I forgot; I told him that I had a watch of my own that I would part with, which went very well; and that it would be cheaper to him than a new one; that it cost fifteen pounds; but I was in want of money, and would take five pounds for it.  He saw how sorry I was to part with it—­and so I was.”  Here Nicholas thought of his watch, and forgot his story.

“Well, my dear father,” said Newton, “what did he give you for it?”

“Oh!—­why, he was a kind, good creature, and said that he was not the man to take advantage of a poor devil in distress, and that I should have the full value of it.  He put the watch in his fob and counted out fifteen pounds on the counter.  I wanted to return part:  but he walked out of the shop, and before I could get round the counter, he had got round the corner of the street.”

“’Twas a God-send, my dear father,” replied Newton, “for I have not a halfpenny.  Do you know what became of my chest, that I left on board of the sloop?”

“Dear me! now I think of it, it came here by the waggon.  I put it upstairs.  I wondered why you sent it.”