"Ja," answered my friend; and, after allowing time that they might admire everything, which they did, walking to and fro the deck, looking down the pumps and up the rigging, I requested that they would follow me, and I would show them below. The compactness of the cabin, the comfort of the berths, the height between decks, the combination of ease and elegance in the furniture, the copper-plate drawings, the swinging table, the pantry with every drawer and cupboard exactly where they ought to be, and nowhere else, the forecastle, and, wonder upon wonder! the cooking apparatus with its moveable jack, and its particular copper for hot water,—all these things, and a thousand others too minute to tell, acted so impressively on their minds, that I could hear them extolling, in barbarous grammar, to the cook the singular sagacity of an English mechanic, and the collective greatness of the English nation. They remained on board nearly three hours; and, after conversing with R——, P——, and myself as well as they could, they presented each of us with their cards, and, begging that we would honour them with a visit, took their leave. I returned on deck with them; and the gentleman, whom I have distinguished from his fellow visitor by his spectacles, before he stepped into his boat, said to me,
"Zare, I can at all not say how mooch dish skepp delight me to look at. I am von artiste, and I should like varry mooch to draw dish skepp."
"I am sure," I replied, "Lord R—— will make no objection, for you compliment him in expressing such a wish."
"I tank you, Zare; I can at all not help eet, but I look at dish skepp like von—like von—ach! ach!—" and again the top of the forefinger was lodged in his mouth, "vat is 'skönt'?—bootifool?—jag tacker;—like von bootifool flicka, gal, and ze odare skepps like old vomans."
So saying, he raised his hat and gravely wished me good day.
"Good dag," he exclaimed again, standing upright in the boat—"Farväl!"
"Good dag. Farväl!" repeated his companion. And still, in an erect position, the gentleman in spectacles kept his eyes fixed on the vessel until a projecting portion of the quay hid the Iris from his sight. I then joined R—— and P—— in the cabin. We were endeavouring to settle what could be done in the evening, and at what point we should commence to see all the lions in Copenhagen, and regretting that we were unacquainted with an Englishman resident in the capital, when the steward gave a very small card, having a very large inscription on it, to R——, and said that a gentleman wished to speak to us. R—— desired that the stranger would walk below.
"Gentlemen," said a stout man about fifty-five years of age, who, with a red face, was standing uncovered at the threshold of the cabin door, "I hope you will forgive the liberty I have taken in boarding your yacht."
"Oh! yes, certainly," said R——, "I am happy to see a countryman."
"That is just my case," replied the stout man, advancing farther into the cabin. "I have been driven from my own country by adversity, and whenever I see an Englishman I cannot resist forming his acquaintance, that I might speak to some one who has come from the land where I was born. Have you seen my card? My name is A—l—r C."