We mounted the stairs, and drawing the sofa in front of the river, we seated ourselves upon it.

I took up the thread of our discourse where we had dropped it.

I ridiculed his dread of the sea, and his attachment to home.

I kept on in this strain, so congenial with my disposition, for some time, uninterrupted by him.

At length, he said to me, "Suppose now that I, whom argument has not convinced, should yield to ridicule, and should agree that your scheme is eligible; what will you have gained?
Nothing.