aboard from the crest of a wave.

If he saw me--I was stretched out on the sofa by this time--he gave no
sign. Opening his tarpaulins and thrashing the water from his cap, he
walked straight to the cage, peered in, and said softly:

"Ah, my little man! Asleep, are you? I just came down to take a look at
the chart and see how you were getting on. We're having some weather on
the bridge."

MUGGLES'S SUPREME MOMENT

I

A most estimable young man was Muggles: a clean-shaven, spick-and-span,
well-mannered young man--particular as to the brushing of his hat, the
tying of his scarf and the cut of his clothes; more than particular as
to their puttings-on and puttings-off--sack-coat and derby for
mornings; top hat and frock for afternoons; bobtail and black tie for
stags, and full regalia of white choker, white waistcoat and
swallowtail for smart dinners and the opera.

He knew, too, all the little niceties of social life--which arm to give
to his hostess in escorting her out to dinner; on which side of a
hansom to place a lady; the proper hours for calling; the correct thing
in canes, umbrellas, stick-pins and cigar-cases; the way to balance a
cup of afternoon tea on one knee while he toyed with a lettuce sandwich
teetering on the other--all the delicate observances so vital to the
initiated and so unimportant to the untutored and ignorant. Then
Muggles was a kind and considerate young man--extremely kind and
intrusively considerate; always interesting himself in everybody's
affairs and taking no end of trouble to straighten them out whether
importuned or not--and he seldom was.

This idiosyncrasy had gained for him during his college days the title
of "Mixey." This in succeeding years had been merged into "Muddles" and
finally to "Muggles," as being more euphonious and less insulting. Of
late among his intimates he had been known as "The Goat," due to his
constant habit of butting in at any and all times, a sobriquet which
clings to him to this day.

His real name--the one he inherited from his progenitors and now borne
by his family--was one that stood high in the fashionable world: a
family that answered to the more dignified and aristocratic patronymic
of Maxwell--a name dating back to the time of Cromwell, with direct
lineage from the Earl of Clanworthy--john, Duke of Essex, Lord
Beverston--that sort of lineage. No one of the later Maxwells, it is
true, had ever been able to fill the gap of a hundred year