ly round his neck, and a very new hat, to which his head seemed
little habituated.

'Sorry to disturb you, ladies and gentlemen: not exactly the proper
place for me. Don't be alarmed. I'm always respectful wherever I am. My
rule through life is to be respectful.'

'Well, now, in with you,' said the guard.

'Be respectful, my friend, and don't talk so to an old soldier who has
served his king and his country.'

Off they went.

'Majesty's service?' asked the stranger of the Duke.

'I have not that honour.'

'Hum! Lawyer, perhaps?'

'Not a lawyer.'

'Hum! A gentleman, I suppose?'

The Duke was silent; and so the stranger addressed himself to the
anti-aristocrat, who seemed vastly annoyed by the intrusion of so low a
personage.

'Going to London, sir?'

'I tell you what, my friend, at once; I never answer impertinent
questions.'

'No offence, I hope, sir! Sorry to offend. I'm always respectful. Madam!
I hope I don't inconvenience you; I should be sorry to do that. We
sailors, you know, are always ready to accommodate the ladies.'

'Sailor!' exclaimed the acute utilitarian, his curiosity stifling his
hauteur. 'Why! just now, I thought you were a soldier.'

'Well! so I am.'

'Well, my friend, you are a conjuror then.'

'No, I ayn't; I'm a marine.'

'A very useless person, then.'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean to say, that if the sailors were properly educated, such an
amphibious corps would never have been formed, and some of the most
atrocious sinecures ever tolerated would consequently not have existed.'

'Sinecures! I never heard of him. I served under Lord Combermere. Maybe
you have heard of him, ma'am? A nice man; a beautiful man. I have seen
him stand in a field like that, with the shot falling about him like
hail, and caring no more for them than peas.'

'If that were for bravado,' said the utilitarian, 'I think it a very
silly thing.'

'Bravado! I never heard of him. It was for his king and country.'

'Was it in India?' asked the widow.

'In a manner, ma'am,' said the marine, very courteously. 'At Bhurtpore,
up by Pershy, and thereabouts; the lake of Cashmere, where all the
shawls come from. Maybe you have heard of Cashmere, ma'am?'

'"Who has not heard of the vale of Cashmere!'" hummed the Duke to
himself.

'Ah! I thought so,' said the marine; 'all people know much the same; for
some have seen, and some have read. I can't read, but I have served my
king and country for five-and-tw