Consequence is, I'm bound to stay now as a witness to see this quarrel through.

Here have I come on a pleasure- trip to see my relatives, and it seems I've got to combine business and pleasure after all." "You forget I've no hold over this man.

He does not claim the property, although he guesses that my ward will hand it over to him if he proves his identity.

I can only show him to be a liar." "You seem pretty sure of that." "I am myself; and I hope, for everybody's sake, that your nephew, if he should turn up, will be a better credit to the name than this land- shark." "Well, sir, I don't thank you for dragging me into the business; but, since I am here, I stay to see it out." "I am relieved to hear you say so." "Tell me now," said the Mayor, "what the story is; and what does our young friend mean by his farewell threats ?" Thereupon Mr Armstrong gave his new ally a faithful account of the family difficulty: of Captain Oliphant's embarrassing relations to the claimant, of Miss Rosalind's dilemma, of Roger's quixotic determination to find his lost brother, and of his own--the tutor's--conviction of the hopelessness of the quest.
The visitor by no means shared the last conclusion.
"I rather calculate that lost young man ain't as dead as you think," said he.

"By all accounts he wasn't born to be drowned, and he's not hung yet.