informed he had money and jewels at the bank or not.

Upon the whole, it was thought advisable to postpone this information,
lest he should throw it away; but they told him he had been picked up
at sea, and both money and jewels found on him; they were in safe hands,
only the person was away for the time. Still, he was not to look upon
himself as either friendless or moneyless.

At this communication he showed an almost childish delight, that
confirmed the doctor in his opinion he was acting prudently, and for the
real benefit of an amiable and afflicted person, not yet to be trusted
with money and jewels.




CHAPTER XVII.


In his quality of attendant on the sick, Staines sometimes conducted
a weak but convalescent patient into the open air; and he was always
pleased to do this, for the air of the Cape carries health and vigor on
its wings. He had seen its fine recreative properties, and he divined,
somehow, that the minds of convalescents ought to be amused, and so he
often begged the doctor to let him take a convalescent abroad. Sooner
than not, he would draw the patient several miles in a Bath chair. He
rather liked this; for he was a Hercules, and had no egotism or false
pride where the sick were concerned.

Now, these open-air walks exerted a beneficial influence on his own