I was about to depart, but he detained me
to renew his professions of gratitude for the service I had rendered
him, and his earnest wish that he might be able to requite me. From his
discourse, and from the texts of Scripture he mixed up with it, I knew
him to be a Puritan; and I might have supposed him to be a preacher of
the Gospel, had he not carried a sword, and borne himself so manfully in
the encounter. However, he left me no doubt on the subject, for he told
me he was named Hugh Calveley, and that he had served in the wars with
more honour to himself than profit. He added, that if the knaves had
succeeded in their design, and robbed and slain him, they would have
deprived his daughter of her sole protector; and, indeed, of all means
of subsistence, since the little they had would be lost with him. On
hearing this, a thought struck me, and I said to him--'You have
expressed an earnest desire to requite the service I have just been
fortunate enough to render you, and as I am well assured your
professions are not idly made, I shall not hesitate to proffer a request
to you.' 'Ask what you will; if I have it to give, it shall be yours,'
he replied. 'You make that promise solemnly, and before heaven?' I said.
'I make it solemnly,' he replied. 'And to prove to you that I mean it to
be binding upon me, I will confirm it by an oath upon the Bible.' And as
he spoke he took the sacred volume from his doublet, and reverently
kissed it.
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