'
Off they went.
'Majesty's service?' asked the stranger of the Duke.
'I have not that honour.'
'Hum! Lawyer, perhaps?'
'Not a lawyer.'
'Hum! A gentleman, I suppose?'
The Duke was silent; and so the stranger addressed himself to the
anti-aristocrat, who seemed vastly annoyed by the intrusion of so low a
personage.
'Going to London, sir?'
'I tell you what, my friend, at once; I never answer impertinent
questions.'
'No offence, I hope, sir! Sorry to offend. I'm always respectful. Madam!
I hope I don't inconvenience you; I should be sorry to do that. We
sailors, you know, are always ready to accommodate the ladies.'
'Sailor!' exclaimed the acute utilitarian, his curiosity stifling his
hauteur. 'Why! just now, I thought you were a soldier.'
'Well! so I am.'
'Well, my friend, you are a conjuror then.'
'No, I ayn't; I'm a marine.'
'A very useless person, then.'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean to say, that if the sailors were properly educated, such an
amphibious corps would never have been formed, and some of the most
atrocious sinecures ever tolerated would consequently not have existed.
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