Page:Paul Clifford Vol 3.djvu/73

Rh turn away your face;—I guess!—Well, love has ruined many a hero before; may you not be the worse for his godship!"

Clifford did not answer, and the conversation made a sudden and long pause; Tomlinson broke it:—

"Do you know, Lovett," said he, "though I have as little heart as most men, yet I feel for you more than I could have thought it possible; I would fain join you; there is devilish good tobacco in Germany, I believe; and, after all, there is not so much difference between the life of a thief and of a soldier!"

"Do profit by so sensible a remark," said Clifford; "reflect, how certain of destruction is the path you now tread: the gallows and the hulks are the only goals!"

"The prospects are not pleasing, I allow," said Tomlinson; "nor is it desirable to be preserved for another century in the immortality of a glass case, in Surgeons' Hall, grinning from ear to ear, as if one had made the merriest finale imaginable.—Well! I will sleep on it, and you shall have my answer to-morrow;—but poor Ned?"