vulgar in speech, a would-be fashionable lady,
against which fashion Captain T had for years pleaded poverty; but his
brother, who had remained a bachelor, died, leaving him forty thousand
pounds--a fact which could not be concealed. Captain Turnbull had not
allowed his wife to be aware of the extent of his own fortune, more from
a wish to live quietly and happily than from any motive of parsimony,
for he was liberal to excess; but now he had no further excuse to plead,
and Mrs Turnbull insisted upon _fashion_. The house they had lived in
was given up, and a marine villa on the borders of the Thames to a
certain degree met the views of both parties; Mrs Turnbull anticipating
dinners and fetes, and the captain content to watch what was going on in
the river, and amuse himself in a wherry. They had long been
acquaintances of Mr and Mrs Drummond; and Captain Turnbull's character
was such as always to command the respect of Mr Drummond, as he was an
honest, friendly man. Mrs Turnbull had now set up her carriage, and
she was, in her own opinion, a very great personage. She would have cut
all her former acquaintance; but on that point the captain was
inflexible, particularly as regarded the Drummonds. As far as they were
concerned, Mrs Turnbull gave way, Mrs Drummond being a lady-like
woman, and Mr Drummond universally respected as a man of talent and
information. Captain, or rather, Mr Turnbull, was a constant visitor
at our house, and very partial to me. He used to scold Mr Drummond for
keeping me so close to my desk, and would often persuade him to give me
a couple of hours' run. When this was obtained, he would call a
waterman, throw him a crown, and tell him to get out of his wherry as
fast as he could. We then embarked, and amused ourselves pulling up and
down the river, while Mrs Turnbull, dressed in the extremity of the
fashion, rode out in the carriage and left her cards in every direction.

One day Mr Turnbull called upon the Drummonds, and asked them to dine
with him on the following Saturday; they accepted the invitation.
"By-the-by," said he, "I got what my wife calls a _remind_ in my
pocket;" and he pulled out of his coat-pocket a large card, "with Mr
and Mrs Turnbull's compliments," etcetera, which card he had doubled in
two by his sitting down upon it, shortly after he came in. Mr Turnbull
straightened it again as well as he could, and laid it on the table.
"And Jacob," said he, "you'll come too. Yo