“How can I help it, my dear?  I never refuse a job.”

“Never refuse a job? no; but you must contrive to make more business.”

“I can mend a watch, and make a telescope, but I can’t make business, my dear,” replied Nicholas.

“Yes, you can, and you must, Mr Forster,” continued the lady, sweeping off the remains of the mutton, just as her husband had fixed his eye upon the next cut, and locking it up in the cupboard—­“if you do not, you will have nothing to eat, Mr Forster.”

“So it appears, my dear,” replied the meek Nicholas, taking a pinch of snuff; “but I really don’t—­”

“Why, Mr Forster, if you were not one of the greatest—­”

“No, no, my dear,” interrupted Nicholas, from extreme modesty, “I am not one of the greatest opticians of the present day; although, when I’ve made my improve—­”

“Greatest opticians!” interrupted the lady.  “One of the greatest fools, I meant!”

“That’s quite another thing, my dear; but—­”

“No buts, Mr Forster; please to listen, and not interrupt me again in that bearish manner.  Why do you repair in the way you do?  Who ever brings you a watch or a glass that you have handled a second time?”

“But why should they, my dear, when I have put them in good order?”

“Put them in order! but why do you put them in order?”

“Why do I put them in order, my dear?” replied Forster, with astonishment.

“Yes; why don’t you leave a screw loose, somewhere? then they must come again.  That’s the proper way to do business.”

“The proper way to do my business, my dear, is to see that all the screws are tight.”

“And starve!” continued the lady.

“If it please God,” replied the honest Nicholas

But this matrimonial duet was interrupted by the appearance of their son, whom we must introduce to the reader, as he will play a conspicuous part in our narrative.

Newton Forster, for thus had he been christened by his father, out of respect for the great Sir Isaac, was now about seventeen years old—­athletic and well-proportioned in person, handsome in features, and equally gifted in mind.  There was a frankness and sincerity in his open brow, an honesty in his smile, which immediately won upon the beholder; and his countenance was but an index to his mind.  His father had bestowed all his own leisure, and some expense, which he could ill afford, upon his education, trusting one day that he would rival the genius after whom he had been christened; but Newton was not of a disposition to sit down either at a desk or a workbench.  Whenever he could escape from home or from school, he was to be found either on the beach or at the pier, under the shelter of which the coasting vessels discharged or received their cargoes; and he had for some years declared his intention to follow the profession of a sailor.  To this his father had reluctantly consented, with the proviso that he would first finish his education; and the mutual compact had been strictly adhered to by each party.