'I pledge myself to nothing in the matter,' returned my uncle, calmly,
but with something in his tone which was new to me.

'Good heavens!' exclaimed the other. 'Excuse me, sir, but what right
can you have to interfere after such a serious fashion with the young
gentleman's future?'

'It seems to me,' said my uncle, 'that you wish to interfere with it
after a much more serious fashion. There are things in which ignorance
may be preferable to knowledge.'

'But what harm could the knowledge of such a fact do him?'

'Upset all his notions, render him incapable of thinking about anything
of importance, occasion an utter--'

But _can_ anything be more important?' interrupted the visitor.

My uncle went on without heeding him.

'Plunge him over head and ears in--'

'Hot water, I grant you,' again interrupted the enemy, to my horror;
'but it wouldn't be for long. Only give me your sanction, and I promise
you to have the case as tight as a drum before I ask you to move a step
in it.'

'But why should you take so much interest in what is purely our
affair?' asked my uncle.