 befriend him on any
other terms; that his silence hitherto would be imputed to his want of
information touching the circumstances and condition of his friend; and that his
remembring and insisting upon discharging the obligation, after such an interval
of time, when the whole affair was in oblivion, would be the greatest compliment
he could pay to his own honour and integrity.
    Thus persuaded, he took an opportunity of Gauntlet's being alone with him to
broach the affair, telling the young man, that his father had advanced a sum of
money for him, when they sailed together, on account of the mess, as well as to
stop the mouth of a clamorous creditor at Portsmouth; and that the said sum,
with interest, amounted to about four hundred pounds, which he would now, with
great thankfulness, repay.
    Godfrey was amazed at this declaration, and after a considerable pause
replied, that he had never heard his parents mention any such debt; that no
memorandum or voucher of it was found among his father's papers; and that, in
all probability, it must have been discharged long ago, although the commodore,
in such a long course of time and hurry of occupation, might have forgot the
repayment: he therefore desired to be excused from accepting what in his own
conscience he believed was not his due; and complimented the old gentleman upon
his being so scrupulously just and honourable.
    The soldier's refusal, which was matter of astonishment to Trunnion,
increased his inclination to assist him; and, on pretence of acquitting his own
character, he urged his beneficence with such obstinacy, that Gauntlet, afraid
of disobliging him, was in a manner compelled to receive a draught for the
money, for which he subscribed an ample discharge, and immediately transmitted
the order to his mother, whom at the same time he informed of the circumstances
by which they had so unexpectedly gained this accession of fortune.
    Such a piece of news could not fail of being agreeable to Mrs. Gauntlet, who
by the first post wrote a polite letter of acknowledgment to the commodore,
another to her own son, importing, that she had already sent the draught to a
friend in London, with directions to deposit it in the hands of a certain
banker, for the purchase of the first ensigncy to be sold; and she took the
liberty of sending a third to Peregrine, couched in very affectionate terms,
with a kind postscript, signed by Miss Sophy and his charming Emily.
    This affair being transacted to the satisfaction of all concerned,
preparations were set on foot for the departure of our hero
