There was a flutter at the gate, and a pretty girl heliographed with her eyes that the parties of the other part were in sight. A minute or two later they came into sight of the window. Captain Barber, clad in beautiful raiment, headed the _cortège_, the rear of which was brought up by the crew of the _Foam_ and a cloud of light skirmishers which hovered on their flanks. As they drew near, it was noticed that Captain Barber’s face was very pale, and his hands trembled, but he entered the house with a firm step and required no assistance. Of his reception there was never for a moment any doubt. Young matrons smiled and shook their heads at him, middle-aged matrons took him by the hand, while old ladies committed themselves to the statement that they had seen matrimony in his eye for years. He received the full measure accorded to a very distinguished convert, and, taking a chair placed against the wall, surveyed the company with the air of a small boy who has strayed into a hostile alley. A little natural curiosity found vent. “Now, what first put it into your head to get married?” asked one fair enquirer. “Mrs. Church,” said the ex-mariner, simply. “Yes, of course,” said the matron; “but was it love at first sight, or did it grow on you before you knew it?” Captain Barber blushed. “It growed on me afore I knew it,” he replied, fervently. “I suppose,” said a lady of a romantic turn of mind, “that you didn’t know what was happening at first?” “I did not, ma’am,” agreed the Captain, in trembling tones. “Nobody was more surprised than wot I was.” “How strange,” said two or three voices. They regarded him tenderly, and the youngest bridesmaid, a terrible child of ten, climbed up on his knee and made audible comparisons between the two bridegrooms, which made Mr. Gibson smile. “Time we started,” said Mrs. Banks, raising her voice above the din. “Cap’n Barber, you and Mr. Gibson and the other gentlemen had better get to the church.” The men got up obediently, and in solemn silence formed up in the little passage, and then started for the church some two hundred yards distant, the crew of the _Foam_ falling in behind unchallenged. To this day Captain Barber does not know how he got there, and he resolutely declines to accept Captain Nibletts’ version as the mere offspring of a disordered imagination. He also denies the truth of a statement circulated in the town that night that, instead of replying to a leading question in the manner plainly laid down in the Church Service, he answered, “I suppose so.” He came out of the church with a buzzing in his ears and a mist before his eyes. Something was clinging to his arm, which he tried several times to shake off. Then he discovered that it was Mrs. Barber.