aring in
the _Morning Post_ as the bride of a lieutenant. "What's a lieutenant
nowadays?" said she--"nobody. I remember when I was on a visit at
Fareham, I used to go to Portsmouth to see the dockyard and the ships,
and there was your great friend the tall admiral, Sir Hurricane Humbug,
I think you call him, driving the poor lieutenants about like so many
sheep before a dog; there was always one at his heels, like a running
footman; and there was another that appeared to me to be chained, like a
mastiff, to the door of the admiral's office, except when the admiral
and family walked out, and then he brought up the rear with the
governess. No, Frank, I shall not surrender at discretion, with all my
charms, to anything less than a captain, with a pair of gold
epaulettes."

"Very well," replied I, looking into the pier-glass, with tolerable
self-complacency; "if you choose to pin your happiness on the promises
of a first lord of the Admiralty and a pair of epaulettes, I can say no
more. There is no accounting for female taste; some ladies prefer gold
lace and wrinkles, to youth and beauty--I am sorry for them all, that's
all."

"Frank," said Emily, "you must acknowledge that you are vain enough to
be an admiral at least."

"The admirals are much obliged to you for the compliment," said I. "I
trust I should not disgrace the flag, come when it will; but to tell you
the truth, my dear Emily, I cannot say I look forward to that elevation
with any degree of satisfaction. Three stars on each shoulder, and
three rows of gold lace round the cuff, are no compensation, in my eyes,
for grey hairs, thin legs, a broken back, a church-yard cough, and to be
laughed at or pitied by all the pretty girls in the country into the
bargain."

"I am sorry for you, my hero," said the young lady: "but you must
submit."

"Well, then, if I must, I must," said I; "but give me a kiss in the
meantime."

I asked for one, and took a hundred, and should have taken a hundred
more, but the confounded butler came in, and brought me a letter on
service, which was neither more nor less than an order to join my ship
forthwith: _sic transit_, etcetera.

Pocketing my disappointment with as much _sang froid_ as I could muster,
I continued to beguile the time and to solace myself for my past
sufferings, by as much enjoyment as could be compressed into the small
space of leisure time allotted to me. Fortunately, the first lieutenant
of the frigate w