THE STEAM EXCURSION. 371 



" Oh ! he's been making such dreadful faces at me," cried the 

 boy, relapsing into convulsions, at the bare recollection. 



" He ! who?" cried every body, crowding round him. 



Oh ! him," replied the child, pointing at Hardy, who affected 

 to be the most concerned of the whole group. 



The real state of the case at once flashed upon the minds of all 

 present, with the exception of the Fleetwoods and the Wakefields. 

 The facetious Hardy, in fulfilment of his promise, had watched the 

 child to a remote part of the vessel, and, by suddenly appearing be- 

 fore him with the most awful contortions of visage, had produced his 

 paroxysm of terror. Of course, he now observed that it was hardly 

 necessary for him to deny the accusation ; and the unfortunate little 

 victim was, accordingly, led below, after receiving sundry thumps on 

 the head from both his parents,for having the wickedness to tell a story. 



This little interruption having been adjusted, the captain resumed, 

 and Miss Emily chimed in, in due course. The duet was loudly ap- 

 plauded ; and, certainly, the perfect independence of the parties, de- 

 served great commendation. Miss Emily sung her part without the 

 slightest reference to the captain, and the captain sang so loud that 

 he had not the slightest idea of what was being done by his partner. 

 After having gone through the last few eighteen or nineteen bars by 

 himself, therefore, he acknowledged the plaudits of the circle with 

 that air of self-denial which men always assume, when they think 

 they have done something to astonish the company, though they don't 

 exactly know what. 



" Now," said Mr. Percy Noakes, who had just ascended from the 

 fore-cabin, where he had been busily engaged in decanting the wine, 

 " if the Misses Briggs will oblige us with something before dinner, I 

 am sure we shall be very much delighted." 



One of those hums of admiration followed the suggestion, which 

 one frequently hears in society when nobody has the most distant 

 notion of what he is expressing his approval of. The three Misses 

 Briggs looked modestly at their mamma, and the mamma looked ap- 

 provingly at her daughters, and Mrs. Taunton looked scornfully at 

 all of them. The Misses Briggs asked for their guitars, and several 

 gentlemen seriously damaged the cases in their anxiety to present 

 them. Then there was a very interesting production of three little 

 keys for the aforesaid cases, and a melodramatic expression of horror 

 at finding a string broken ; and a vast deal of screwing and tightening, 

 and winding and tuning, during which Mrs. Briggs expatiated to 

 those near her on the immense difficulty of playing a guitar, and 

 hinted at the wondrous proficiency of her daughters in that mystic 

 art. Mrs. Taunton whispered to a neighbour that it was " quite sick- 

 ening !" and the Misses Taunton tried to look as if they knew how to 

 play, but disdained to do so. 



At length the Misses Briggs began in real earnest. It was a new 

 Spanish composition for three voices and three guitars. The effect 

 was electrical. All eyes were turned upon the captain, who was re- 

 ported to have once passed through Spain with his regiment, and 

 who, of course, must be well acquainted with the national music. He 

 was in raptures. This was sufficient ; the trio was encored the ap- 



