and t'other thing - I - I've forgot what I was saying. Not

that that matters, I've heaps of things to say. I'm in a

communicative vein to-night. I'll let out all my cats, even

unto seventy times seven. I'm in what I call THE stage, and

all I desire is a listener, although he were deaf, to be as

happy as Nebuchadnezzar.'

Of the two hours which followed upon this it is unnecessary

to give more than a sketch. The Admiral was extremely silly,

now and then amusing, and never really offensive. It was

plain that he kept in view the presence of his daughter, and

chose subjects and a character of language that should not

offend a lady. On almost any other occasion Dick would have

enjoyed the scene. Van Tromp's egotism, flown with drink,

struck a pitch above mere vanity. He became candid and

explanatory; sought to take his auditors entirely into his

confidence, and tell them his inmost conviction about

himself. Between his self-knowledge, which was considerable,

and his vanity, which was immense, he had created a strange

hybrid animal, and called it by his own name. How he would

plume his feathers over virtues which would have gladdened

the heart of Caesar or St. Paul; and anon, complete his own

portrait with one of those touches of pitiless realism which

the satirist so often seeks in vain.

'Now, there's Dick,' he said, 'he's shrewd; he saw through me

199

Tales and Fantasies