memorial hall, Captain Whalley
contemplated things once important, the efforts of small men, the growth
of a great place, but now robbed of all consequence by the greatness
of accomplished facts, by hopes greater still; and they gave him for a
moment such an almost physical grip upon time, such a comprehension of
our unchangeable feelings, that he stopped short, struck the ground with
his stick, and ejaculated mentally, "What the devil am I doing here!" He
seemed lost in a sort of surprise; but he heard his name called out in
wheezy tones once, twice--and turned on his heels slowly.

He beheld then, waddling towards him autocratically, a man of an
old-fashioned and gouty aspect, with hair as white as his own, but with
shaved, florid cheeks, wearing a necktie--almost a neckcloth--whose
stiff ends projected far beyond his chin; with round legs, round arms,
a round body, a round face--generally producing the effect of his short
figure having been distended by means of an air-pump as much as the
seams of his clothing would stand. This was the Master-Attendant of the
port. A master-attendant is a superior sort of harbor-master; a person,
out in the East, of some consequence in his sphere; a Government
official, a magistrate for the waters of the port, and possessed of vast
but ill-defined disciplinary authority over seamen of all classes.
This particular Master-Attendant was reported to consider it miserably
inadequate, on the ground that it did not include the power of life
and death. This was a jocular exaggeration. Captain Eliott was fairly
satisfied with his position, and nursed no inconsiderable sense of such
power as he had. His conceited and tyrannical disposition did not allow
him to let it dwindle in his hands for want of use. The uproarious,
choleric frankness of his comments on people's character and conduct
caused him to be feared at bottom; though in conversation many pretended
not to mind him in the least, others would only smile sourly at the
mention of his name, and there were even some who dared to pronounce him
"a meddlesome old ruffian." But for almost all of them one of Captain
Eliott's outbreaks was nearly as distasteful to face as a chance of
annihilation.

V

As soon as he had come up quite close he said, mouthing in a growl--

"What's this I hear, Whalley? Is it true you're selling the Fair Maid?"

Captain Whalley, looking away, said the thing was done--money had been
paid that morning; and t