“I suppose there’s nothing to prevent your going in for it?” said Mr. Boffin.

The boy virtually replied that as he had the honour to be a Briton who never never never, there was nothing to prevent his going in for it. Yet he seemed inclined to suspect that there might be something to prevent his coming out with it.

“Would a couple of pound help you up at all?” asked Mr. Boffin.

On this head, young Blight had no doubt whatever, so Mr. Boffin made him a present of that sum of money, and thanked him for his attention to his ( Mr. Boffin’s) affairs; which, he added, were now, he believed, as good as settled.