own services. As soon as
the honours of the quarter-deck had been duly paid--for these Sir
Gervaise never neglected himself, nor allowed others to neglect--the
vice-admiral intimated to Captain Parker a desire to see him in his
cabin, requesting Greenly and Wycherly to accompany them below.

"Upon my word, Parker," commenced Sir Gervaise, looking around him at
the air of singular domestic comfort that the after-cabin of the ship
presented, "you have the knack of taking a house to sea with you, that
no other captain of the fleet possesses! No finery, no Morganics, but a
plain, wholesome, domestic look, that might make a man believe he was in
his father's house. I would give a thousand pounds if my vagabonds could
give the cabin of the Plantagenet such a Bowldero look, now!"

"Less than a hundred, sir, have done the little you see here. Mrs.
Parker makes it a point to look to those matters, herself, and in that
lies the whole secret, perhaps. A good wife is a great blessing, Sir
Gervaise, though you have never been able to persuade yourself into the
notion, I believe."

"I hardly think, Parker, the wife can do it all. Now there's Stowel,
Bluewater's captain, he is married as well as yourself--nay, by George,
I've heard the old fellow say he had as much wife as any man in his
majesty's service--but _his_ cabin looks like a cobbler's barn, and his
state-room like a soldier's bunk! When we were lieutenants together in
the Eurydice, Parker, your state-room had just the same air of comfort
about it that this cabin has at this instant. No--no--it's in the grain,
man, or it would never show itself, in all times and places."

"You forget, Sir Gervaise, that when I had the honour to be your
messmate in the Eurydice, I was a married man."

"I beg your pardon, my old friend; so you were, indeed! Why, that was a
confounded long time ago, hey! Parker?"

"It was, truly, sir; but I was poor, and could not afford the
extravagances of a single life. _I_ married for the sake of economy,
Admiral Oakes."

"And love--" answered Sir Gervaise, laughing. "I'll warrant you,
Greenly, that he persuaded Mrs. Parker into that notion, whether true or
not. I'll warrant you, he didn't tell _her_ he married for so sneaking a
thing as economy! I should like to see your state-room now, Parker."

"Nothing easier, Sir Gervaise," answered the captain, rising and opening
the door. "Here it is, air, though little worthy the attention of the
owner of Bo