itting a sound somewhat resembling a sigh, as he re-lighted
the cigar which had gone out during Mr. Tape's reading--"you would
hardly believe it, perhaps; but I was woman-witched once myself!"

"Never!" exclaimed the astonished gentleman whom he addressed. "A man of
your strength of mind, captain? I can't believe it; it's impossible!"

"It's an extraordinary fact, I admit; and, to own the truth, I have
never been able to account exactly for it myself. Fortunately, I took
the disorder as I did the measles--young; and neither of these
complaints is apt to be so fatal then, I'm told, as when they pick a man
up later in life. It was, however, a very severe attack while it lasted.
A very charming hand at hooking a gudgeon was that delightful Coralie
Dufour, I _must_ say."

"Any relation to the Monsieur and Madame Dufour we saw some years ago in
Paris?" asked Tape. "The husband, I remember, was remarkably fond of
expressing his gratitude to you for having once wonderfully carried him
through his difficulties."

Captain Smith looked sharply at Mr. Tape, as if he suspected some
lurking irony beneath the bland innocence of his words. Perceiving, as
usual, nothing in the speaker's countenance, Mr. Smith--blowing at the
same time a tremendous cloud to conceal a faint blush which, to my
extreme astonishment, I observed stealing over his unaccustomed
features--said, gravely, almost solemnly: "You, Mr. Tape are a married
man, and the father of a family, and your own experience, therefore, in
the female line must be ample for a lifetime; but you, sir," continued
the captain, patronizingly, addressing another of his auditors, "are, I
believe, as yet 'unattached,' in a legal sense, and may therefore derive
profit, as well as instruction, from an example of the way in which
ardent and inexperienced youth is sometimes entrapped and bamboozled by
womankind. Mr. Tape, oblige me by touching the bell."

The instant the captain's order had been obeyed, he commenced the
narrative of his love adventure, and for a time spoke with his
accustomed calmness: but toward the close he became so exceeding
discursive and excited, and it was with so much difficulty we drew from
him many little particulars it was essential to hear, that I have been
compelled, from regard to brevity as well as strict decorum, to soften
down and render in my own words some of the chief incidents of his
mishap.

Just previous to the winter campaign which witnessed the se