“'No, no, not that, Cutbill. I never said that,' said he, laughing; 'but you see that we sailors not only have all sorts of technicals for the parts of a ship, but we have technical meanings for even the words of common life, so that though I might call you a consummate humbug, I could n't say as much to a Vice-Admiral without the risk of being judged by professional etiquette.'
“'But you did n't call him that, did you?' said I.
“'I 'll call you worse, Cutty,' says he, laughing, 'if you don't take your wine.'
“'And now, Jack,' said I, 'it's on the stroke of one; I must start with the express at one-forty, and as I came down here for nothing on earth but to see if I could be of any use to you, don't let me go away only as wise as I came; be frank and tell me all about this business, and when I go back to town it will push me hard if I can't do something with the Somerset House fellows to pull you through.'
“'You are a good-hearted dog, Cutty,' says he, 'and I thought so the first day I saw you; but my scrape, as you call it, is just one of those things you 'd only blunder in. My fine brother Temple, or that much finer gentleman, Lord Culduff, who can split words into the thinnest of veneers, might possibly make such a confusion that it would be hard to see who was right or who was wrong in the whole affair; but you, Cutty, with your honest intentions and your vulgar good sense, would be sure to offend every one, There, don't lose your train; don't forget the cheroots and the punch, and some pleasant books, if they be writing any such just now.'
“'If you want money,' said I,—'I mean for the defence.'
“'Not sixpence for the lawyers, Cutty; of that you may take your oath,' said he, as he shook my hand. 'I 'd as soon think of sending the wardroom dinner overboard to the sharks.' We parted, and the next thing I saw of him was that paragraph in the 'Times.'”
“How misfortunes thicken around us. About a month or six weeks ago, when you came down here first, I suppose there was n't a family in the kingdom could call itself happier.”
“You did look jolly, that I will say; but somehow—you 'll not take the remark ill—I saw that, as we rail-folk say, it was a capital line for ordinary regular traffic, but would be sure to break down if you had a press of business.”
“I don't understand you.”