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CAPTAIN DABBER. 



ISSIS PLUMMER!" 

 ''Comin', sir." 



" Have ye got my sandwiches and the ginger- 

 bread nuts ?" 



'' Here they are, Captain," gasps Mrs. Plummer, who 

 has at last arrived at the top of the kitchen stairs, for Mrs. 

 Plummer is short and fat, and the stairs are long and 

 difficult to ascend to a lady of her calibre. 



'^ Here they are, Captain, and the sherry-flask's a'ready 

 in the saddle." 



'^And the small brandy-flask, Mrs. Plummer? " 

 '* Here it is, sir." 



*^And, Mrs. Plummer, did ye say there was beefsteak 

 puddin' for dinner or the leg of Welsh mutton ? " 



'^ I'm a keepin' the mutton for to-morrow. Captain. 

 There's a dozen oysters (the last of the barrel, sir), the 

 beefsteak pudden, the woodcock you shot yesterday, and 

 a apple tart to foUer." 



'' Very good, Missis Plummer ; pop a bottle of cham- 

 pagne into the ice pail, about half-past six, and decant a 

 bottle of the red seal as soon as I'm gone, and leave it on 

 the mantelpiece, there's a good creature." And, so saying, 

 Captain Dabber, or as he is generally called by the natives 

 '^ Charlie Dabber," emerges solemnly from the front door 

 of his snug habitation, known by the name of Ivy Lodge, 

 and swinging his fifteen stone of humanity on to the back 



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