hand with genuine
feeling, "you have been a long time putting off this visit; but, now
we have you, I promise we don't let you go in a hurry. We will toast
old days; we will go visit the play together as of old--yes, this
very night. For, as luck will have it, the stock company at the
Theatre Royal makes way to-night--for whom think you? No less a man
than Orlando B. Sturge, and in his great part of Tom Taffrail in
_Love Between Decks; or, The Triumph of Constancy_; a week's special
engagement with his own London company in honour of the Duke of
Clarence, who is paying us a visit just now at Admiralty House."

"Sturge?" echoed the Major, doubtfully.

"Good heavens, my dear fellow, don't tell me you haven't heard of
him! Really, now, really, you bury yourself--believe me, you do.
Why, for nautical parts, the stage hasn't his equal; and a voice,
they tell me, like Incledon's in his prime! Mrs. Basket and I have
reserved seats, and, now I come to think of it, we had best step down
to the theatre before dining, book yours, and arrange it so that we
sit in a row. The house will be crowded, if 'tis only for a view of
his Royal Highness, who will certainly attend if--hem!--equal to the
effort."

"I had not heard of his being indisposed."

"Nor is he, at this hour. But now and then . . . after his fourth
bottle . . . However, as I say, the house will certainly be crowded."

"You'll excuse me, my friend, if I beg that you and your good wife
will trot off to the theatre to-night without troubling about me.
The--er--fact is, I have come up to Plymouth primarily to consult a
lawyer on a somewhat delicate business, and shall be glad of a few
hours' solitude this evening to prepare my case. Do you happen, by
the way, to know of a good lawyer? I wish for the very best advice
procurable."

"Eh--eh? Delicate business, you say? My dear fellow, no
entanglement, I hope? You always _were_, you know. . . . But I've
said it a thousand times--you ought to get married; and Maria agrees
with me . . . a man of your presence, carrying his years as you do.
Eh? You're blushing, man. Then maybe 'tis the real thing, and
you've come up to talk over settlements?"

"Tut-tut!" interposed the Major, who indeed had coloured up, and
apparently not with annoyance. "There's no woman at all in the case
I'm referring to." But here he checked himself. "Nay, I forgot; I'm
wrong there," he admitted; "and if she hadn't had twins, I don't
b