The Three Cutters | Page 3

pretty
oval face, is a young widow of the name of Lascelles. She married an
old man to please her father and mother, which was very dutiful on her
part. She was rewarded by finding herself a widow with a large fortune.
Having married the first time to please her parents, she intends now to
marry to please herself; but she is very young, and is in no hurry.
That young lady with such a sweet expression of countenance is the
Hon. Miss Cecilia Ossulton. She is lively, witty, and has no fear in her
composition; but she is very young yet, not more than seventeen--and
nobody knows what she really is--she does not know herself. These are
the parties who meet in the cabin of the yacht. The crew consist of ten
fine seamen, the steward and the cook. There is also Lord B---'s valet,
Mr Ossulton's gentleman, and the lady's-maid of Miss Ossulton. There
not being accommodation for them, the other servants have been left on
shore.
The yacht is now under way, and her sails are all set. She is running

between Drake's Island and the main. Dinner has been announced. As
the reader has learnt something about the preparations, I leave him to
judge whether it be not very pleasant to sit down to dinner in a yacht.
The air has given everybody an appetite; and it was not until the cloth
was removed that the conversation became general.
"Mr Seagrove," said his lordship, "you very nearly lost your passage; I
expected you last Thursday."
"I am sorry, my lord, that business prevented my sooner attending to
your lordship's kind summons."
"Come, Seagrove, don't be nonsensical," said Hautaine; "you told me
yourself, the other evening, when you were talkative, that you had
never had a brief in your life."
"And a very fortunate circumstance," replied Seagrove; "for if I had
had a brief I should not have known what to have done with it. It is not
my fault; I am fit for nothing but a commissioner. But still I had
business, and very important business, too. I was summoned by
Ponsonby to go with him to Tattersall's, to give my opinion about a
horse he wishes to purchase, and then to attend him to Forest Wild to
plead his cause with his uncle."
"It appears, then, that you were retained," replied Lord B---; "may I ask
you whether your friend gained his cause?"
"No, my lord, he lost his cause, but he gained a suit."
"Expound your riddle, sir," said Cecilia Ossulton.
"The fact is, that old Ponsonby is very anxious that William should
marry Miss Percival, whose estates join on to Forest Wild. Now, my
friend William is about as fond of marriage as I am of law, and thereby
issue was joined."
"But why were you to be called in?" inquired Mrs Lascelles.

"Because, madam, as Ponsonby never buys a horse without consulting
me--"
"I cannot see the analogy, sir," observed Miss Ossulton, senior, bridling
up.
"Pardon me, madam: the fact is," continued Seagrove, "that, as I always
have to back Ponsonby's horses, he thought it right that, in this instance,
I should back him; he required special pleading, but his uncle tried him
for the capital offence, and he was not allowed counsel. As soon as we
arrived, and I had bowed myself into the room, Mr Ponsonby bowed
me out again--which would have been infinitely more jarring to my
feelings, had not the door been left a-jar."
"Do anything but pun, Seagrove," interrupted Hautaine.
"Well, then, I will take a glass of wine."
"Do so," said his lordship; "but recollect the whole company are
impatient for your story."
"I can assure you, my lord, that it was equal to any scene in a comedy."
Now be it observed that Mr Seagrove had a great deal of comic talent;
he was an excellent mimic, and could alter his voice almost as he
pleased. It was a custom of his to act a scene as between other people,
and he performed it remarkably well. Whenever he said that anything
he was going to narrate was "as good as a comedy," it was generally
understood by those who were acquainted with him that he was to be
asked so to do. Cecilia Ossulton therefore immediately said, "Pray act it,
Mr Seagrove."
Upon which, Mr Seagrove--premising that he had not only heard, but
also seen all that passed--changing his voice, and suiting the action to
the word, commenced.
"It may," said he, "be called:--

"FIVE THOUSAND ACRES IN A RING-FENCE."
We shall not describe Mr Seagrove's motions; they must be inferred
from his words.
"`It will, then, William,' observed Mr Ponsonby, stopping, and turning
to his nephew, after a rapid walk up and down the room with his