the man on your
right?--No! _Bien!_ that's the celebrated S----, the oratorical
advocate about whom the papers rang when Louis Philippe began his
assault on the press. He's on his way to Algiers too, and will be more
successful in liberalizing the Arabs than the French. That old chap
over yonder with the snuffy nose, the snuffy wig, and snuffy coat, is
a grand speculator in horses, on his way to the richest cavalry corps
of the army; and, as for our _maitre d'hotel_ at the head of this
segment, _pauvre diable_, you see what he is without a revelation. The
pestilence has nearly used him up. He sits half the day in his bureau
on the stairs looking for guests who never come, reading the record
which adds no name, cursing the cholera, counting a penitential _ave_
and _pater_ on his rosary, and flying from the despair of silence and
desertion to his pans to stew our wretched fare. _Voila mon cher, la
carte de la table! le Cholera et ses Convives!_"

If there is a creature I detest in the world it is a flippant,
intrusive, voluntary youth who thrusts his conversation and affairs
upon strangers, and makes bold to monopolize their time with his
unasked confidence. Such persons are always silly and vulgar
pretenders; and before Doctor Du Jean got through his description of
the lady, I had already classified him among my particular aversions.

When the doctor nodded so patronizingly to the dame, and spoke of his
friendly protectorate, I thought I saw that the quick-witted woman not
only comprehended his intimation, but denied it by the sudden glance
she gave me from beneath her thin and arching eyebrows. So, when
dinner was over, without saying a word to the doctor, I made a slight
inclination of the head to Madame Duprez, and rising before the other
guests, passed to her side and tendered my arm for a promenade on the
balcony.

"_Mon docteur_," said I as we left the room, "life, you know, is too
short and precarious to suffer a monopoly of such blessings,"--looking
intently into the lady's eyes,--"besides which, we sailors, in
defiance of you landsmen, go in for the most 'perfect freedom of the
seas.'"

Madame Duprez declared I was entirely right; that I was no
pirate.--"Mais, mon capitaine," said the fair one, as she leaned with
a fond pressure on my arm, "I'd have no objection if you were, so that
you'd capture me from that frightful gallipot! Besides, you sailors
are always so gallant towards the ladies, and tell us such