`` captain willoughby , '' laurence said , too impatient to tolerate this , `` i must beg you to imagine my own interest in either your feelings or your opinion of myself , when i have allowed no similar consideration for those who had greater claims by far to alter my course ; and if you dislike my company , you may be shot of it all the sooner if you will not stand upon some notion of preserving ceremony , in circumstances so wholly irregular and unexpected : unless you imagine that a twenty-ton celestial will have any more patience for it than do i . ''