s of the Arno or the slopes of Castellamare, who
think no more of a declaration of love than an invitation to dinner; nor
have the slightest difficulty in making the same excuse to either,--a
pre-engagement. She is English, or worse again, far worse,--Irish.

"I 'd give--I don't know what I would n't give--that I could recall that
stupid speech. I declare I think it is this fearful language has done
it all. One can no more employ the Anglo-Saxon tongue for a matter
of delicate treatment, than one could paint a miniature with a
hearth-brush. What a pleasant coinage for cajolery are the liquid lies
of the sweet South, where you can lisp duplicity, and seem never to hurt
the Decalogue."

As he had written so far, a noisy summons at his door aroused him; while
the old Commodore's voice called out, "Maitland! Maitland! I want a word
with you." Maitland opened the door, and without speaking, returned to
the fire, standing with his back to it, and his hands carelessly stuck
in his pockets.

"I thought I 'd come over and have a cigar with you here, and a glass of
brandy-and-water," said Graham. "They 're hard at it yonder, with harp
and piano, and, except holystoning a deck, I don't know its equal."

"I 'm the more sorry for your misfortune, Commodore, that I am unable to
alleviate it I 'm deep in correspondence just now, as you see there, and
have a quantity more to do before bedtime."

"Put it aside, put it aside; never write by candlelight. It ruins the
eyes; and yours are not so young as they were ten years ago."

"The observation is undeniable," said Maitland, stiffly.

"You're six-and-thirty? well, five-and-thirty, I take it."

"I 'm ashamed to say I cannot satisfy your curiosity on so natural a
subject of inquiry."

"Sally says forty," said he, in a whisper, as though the remark required
caution. "Her notion is that you dye your whiskers; but Beck's idea is
that you look older than you are."

"I scarcely know to which of the young ladies I owe my deeper
acknowledgments," said Maitland, bowing.

"You're a favorite with both; and if it hadn't been for the very decided
preference you showed, I tell you frankly they 'd have been tearing caps
about you ere this."

"This flattery overwhelms me; and all the more that it is quite
unexpected."

"None of your mock modesty with me, you dog!" cried the Commodore, with
a chuckling laugh. "No fellow had ever any success of that kind that he
did n't know it; and, upon m