 suppose he
ought not to be my dearest friend, as he is not on terms with you. But he is, I
can't help it; he is full of youthful poetry, and I love him. If you don't like
it, I can't help it. I love him.«
    The engaging frankness with which he made this declaration, really had a
disinterested appearance, and captivated my guardian; if not, for the moment,
Ada too.
    »You are welcome to love him as much as you like,« returned Mr. Jarndyce,
»but we must save his pocket, Harold.«
    »Oh!« said Mr. Skimpole. »His pocket? Now, you are coming to what I don't
understand.« Taking a little more claret, and dipping one of the cakes in it, he
shook his head, and smiled at Ada and me with an ingenuous foreboding that he
never could be made to understand.
    »If you go with him here or there,« said my guardian, plainly, »you must not
let him pay for both.«
    »My dear Jarndyce,« returned Mr. Skimpole, his genial face irradiated by the
comicality of this idea, »what am I to do? If he takes me anywhere, I must go.
And how can I pay? I never have any money. If I had any money, I don't know
anything about it. Suppose I say to a man, how much? Suppose the man says to me
seven and sixpence? I know nothing about seven and sixpence. It is impossible
for me to pursue the subject, with any consideration for the man. I don't go
about asking busy people what seven and sixpence is in Moorish - which I don't
understand. Why should I go about asking them what seven and sixpence is in
Money - which I don't understand?«
    »Well,« said my guardian, by no means displeased with this artless reply,
»if you come to any kind of journeying with Rick, you must borrow the money of
me (never breathing the least allusion to that circumstance), and leave the
calculation to him.«
    »My dear Jarndyce,« returned Mr. Skimpole, »I will do anything to give you
pleasure, but it seems an idle form - a superstition. Besides, I give you my
word, Miss Clare and my dear Miss Summerson, I thought Mr. Carstone was
immensely rich. I thought he had only to make over something, or to sign a
