“Why you are not a little man!”
“No, not little—tending to be lusty, as the saying is—that is, in good condition. It’s very strange that Mrs Oxbelly has an idea that she is not large. I cannot persuade her to it. That’s the reason we always spar in bed. She says it is I, and I know that it is she, who takes the largest share of it.”
“Perhaps you may both be right.”
“No, no, it is she who creates all the disturbance. If I get nearer to the wall she jams me up till I am as thin as a thread-paper. If I put her inside and stay outside, she cuts me out as you do a cask, by the chine, till I tumble out of bed.”
“Why don’t you make your bed larger, Mr Oxbelly?”
“Sir, I have proposed, but my wife will have it that the bed is large enough if I would not toss in my sleep. I can’t convince her. However, she’ll have it all to herself now. I slept well last night, for the first time since I left the Boadicea.”
“The Boadicea?”
“Yes, sir, I was second lieutenant of the Boadicea for three years.”
“She’s a fine frigate, I’m told.”
“On the contrary, such a pinched-up little craft below I never saw. Why, Mr Easy, I could hardly get into the door of my cabin—and yet, as you must see, I’m not a large man.”