ink it will be amusing. I give you full authority
to do exactly what you like, provided, in two months' time, I have the
crack vessel in the club.'

'I begin to press. Annesley, your dinner is so good that you shall be
purser; and Darrell, you are a man of business, you shall be his clerk.
For the rest, I think St. Maurice may claim a place, and----'

'Peacock Piggott, by all means,' said the Duke. 'A gay sailor is quite
the thing.'

'And Charles Fitzroy,' said Annesley, 'because I am under obligations to
him, and promised to have him in my eye.'

'And Bagshot for a butt,' said the Duke.

'And Backbite for a buffoon,' said Mr. Annesley.

'And for the rest,' said the young Duke, 'the rest of the crew, I vote,
shall be women. The Dalmaines will just do.'

'And the little Trevors,' said Lord Darrell.

'And Long Harrington,' said Lord Squib. 'She is my beauty.'

'And the young Ducie,' said Annesley. 'And Mrs. Dallington of course,
and Caroline St. Maurice, and Charlotte Bloomerly; really, she was
dressed most prettily last night; and, above all, the queen bee of the
hive, May Dacre, eh! St. James? And I have another proposition,' said
Annesley, with unusual animation. 'May Dacre won the St. Leger, and
ruled the course; and May Dacre shall win the cup, and rule the waves.
Our yacht shall be christened by the Lady Bird of Yorkshire.'

'What a delightful thing it would be,' said the Duke of St. James, 'if,
throughout life, we might always choose our crew; cull the beauties, and
banish the bores.'

'But that is impossible,' said Lord Darrell. 'Every ornament of society
is counterbalanced by some accompanying blur. I have invariably observed
that the ugliness of a chaperon is exactly in proportion to the charms
of her charge; and that if a man be distinguished for his wit, his
appearance, his style, or any other good quality, he is sure to be
saddled with some family or connection, who require all his popularity
to gain them a passport into the crowd.'

'One might collect an unexceptionable coterie from our present crowd,'
said Mr. Annesley. 'It would be curious to assemble all the pet lambs of
the flock.'

'Is it impossible?' asked the Duke.

'Burlington is the only man who dare try,' said Lord Darrell.

'I doubt whether any individual would have sufficient pluck,' said Lord
Squib.

'Yes,' said the Duke, 'it must, I think, be a joint-stock company to
share the glory and the odium. Let us do it!'

There was