[Patrick had been among the small procession of people headed to the city because, as most people did, he was simply interested in finding a place to work and earn some coin. When it came right down to it, there wasn't a whole lot else he could be expected to do. A man like him had to eat, which meant he had to work and the last he'd checked, the British Army wasn't really around.

But he did so like to loiter about. Just enough to be standing nearby to hear the young lass's amazement.]

It's a popular destination, so it is. You put a city on the sea like this one, you'll have lots of people keen on coming to it. That's basic economics, miss. [This was a point of pride for Patrick to say, because he could smile while saying something that he had absolutely no knowledge about. What was economics? He wasn't sure, but it seemed to be big cities.]