His mother made no objection to
this, as she thought that the exercise and sea air were good for
his health, and that the change did him good. Frank himself was so
fond of the sea that he was half disposed to adopt it instead of
the army as a profession. But his mother was strongly opposed to
the idea, and won him to her way of thinking by pointing out that
although a sailor visits many ports he stays long at none of them,
and that in the few hours' leave he might occasionally obtain he
would be unable to carry out his favorite pursuits.
"Hargate," Ruthven, who was one of the oldest of the House boys,
and was about Frank's age, that is about fifteen years old, said a
few days after the match, "the Doctor has given Handcock and Jones
and myself leave to take a boat and go out this afternoon. We mean
to start soon after dinner, and shall take some lines and bait
with us. We have got leave till lockup, so we shall have a long
afternoon of it. Will you come with us?"
"Thank you, Ruthven," Frank said; "I should like it very much, but
you know I'm short of pocket money, and I can't pay my share of
the boat, so I would rather leave it alone."
"Oh, nonsense, Hargate!" Ruthven answered; "we know money is not
your strong point, but we really want you to go with us.
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