“Come, now,” said Sam, “I’m commissary-general for this day, and, for a miracle, an honest one—­fight fair, you wretches—­but I don’t wonder at the spunk you show, for the rations, I can tell you, are better, poor things, than you are accustomed to.  Hello, there! you, sir—­you big fellow—­you hulk of a cock—­what business have you here?  This is a quarrel among the ladies, sirrah, who are mothers, and it is for their young ones—­on behalf of their children—­they are showing fight; and you, sir, you overgrown glutton, are stuffing yourself, like many another ‘foul bird’ before you, with the public property.  Shame, you little vulture!  Don’t you see they fly away when they have gotten’ an allowance, and give it to their starving children?  D——­ your principle, sir, it’s a bad one.  You think the strongest ought to take most, do you?  Bravo!  Well done, my little woman.  Go on, you have right and nature on your side—­that’s it, peck the glutton—­he’s a rascal—­a public officer—­a commissary-general that—­lay on him—­well done—­never mind military discipline—­he’s none of your officer—­he’s a robber—­a bandit—­and neither a soldier nor a gentleman—­by fife and drum, that’s well done.  But it’s all nature—­all the heart of man.”

“Well, old friend,” said he, “and so this is your good lady.  How do you do, ma’am?  By fife and drum, Mr. Mainwaring, but it’s a good match.  You were made for one another.  And this young lady your daughter, ma’am?  How do you do, Miss Mainwaring?”

“My dear Mr. Roberts,” said Mainwaring, “we are not so happy as to claim this young lady as a daughter.  She is Miss Gourlay, daughter to Sir Thomas Gourlay, of Red Hall, now here upon a visit for the good of her health.”

“How do you do, Miss Gourlay?  I am happy to say that I have seen a young lady that I have heard so much of—­so much, I ought to say, that was good of.”

Lucy, as she replied, blushed deeply at this unintentional mention of her name, and Mrs. Mainwaring, signing to her husband, by putting her finger on her lips, hinted to him that he had done wrong.

Old Sam, however, on receiving this intelligence, looked occasionally, with a great deal of interest, from Lucy to the young officer, and again from the young officer to Lucy; and as he did it, he uttered a series of ejaculations to himself, which were for the most part inaudible to the rest.  “Ha!—­dear me!—­God bless me!—­very strange!—­right, old Corbet—­right for a thousand—­nature will prove it—­not a doubt of it—­God bless me!—­how very like they are!—­perfect brother and sister!—­bless me—­it’s extraordinary—­not a doubt of it.  Bravo, Ned!”

“Come, ladies,” said Mr. Mainwaring; “come, my friend, old Sam, as you like to be called, and you, Edward, come one, come all, till we try the cold ham and chicken.  Miss Gou—­ehem—­come, Lucy, my dear, the short cut through the window; you see it open, and now, Martha, your hand; but there is old Sam’s.  Well done, Sam; your soldier’s ever gallant.  Help Miss—­help the young lady up the steps, Edward.  Good! he has anticipated me.”