"Can there be any people more at large than Captain Stubbard and his

wife and children? Their elbows are coming out of their clothes, and

they have scarcely got a bed to sleep upon. My income is not enough to

stop to count, even when I get it paid punctually. But every farthing I

receive shall go--that is to say, if it ever does come--into the lap of

Mrs. Stubbard, anonymously and respectfully."

"Pay your bills, first," said the Admiral, taking the weather-gage of

the discussion: "a little bird tells me that you owe a good trifle, even

in Springhaven."

"Then the little bird has got a false bill," replied Dolly, who was not

very easy to fluster. "Who is there to spend sixpence with in a little

hole of this kind? I am not a customer for tea, coffee, tobacco, snuff,

or pepper, nor even for whiting, soles, or conger. Old Cheeseman imports

all the fashions, as he says; but I go by my own judgment. And trumpery

as my income is, very little of it goes into his till. But I should like

to know who told you such a wicked story, father?"

"Things are mentioned in confidence, and I put them together," said the

Admiral. "Don't say another word, or look as if you would be happier if

you had something to cry about. Your dear mother used to do it; and it

beats me always. I have long had my eye upon Captain Stubbard, and I

remember well that gallant action when his three ribs flew away. We

called him Adam, because of his wife coming just when his middle rib

went, and his name was Adam Stubbard, sure enough. Such men, in the

prime of their life, should be promoted, instead of being disabled, for

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