"The word, sir, is 'please,'" said Corporal Diggs, re-seating himself after entreaty from the ladies, who assured him that it was only a _lapsus linguæ_ on the part of Sergeant Williams. "Now, corporal, do go on and repeat the entire verse, for I do so admire Sir Walter Scott," pleaded Miss Temple, whose roguish blue eyes were sparkling almost as brightly as those of her friend, Nannie Noddington. "Yes, Corporal Diggs," said the beautiful Nannie, "do go on and give us the entire stanza." "Yes, the entire canto," put in Seth. There was no refusing the appeal from those blue eyes of Miss Temple or the sparkling black eyes of Miss Noddington, so, after a few "hems" and a moment spent in bringing the poem to his memory, the corporal began again: "O, woman, in our hours of ease Uncertain, coy, and hard to please; Yet seem too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace." This time both ladies laughed outright, and even Seth Williams could not restrain a smile, while the corporal wondered what in the world could be the matter with them. "Your version is no better than mine," said Seth Williams. "Oh! Corporal Diggs, you are too cute, you made that mistake on purpose," laughed Miss Temple. The corporal, hearing his witty blunder praised on all sides, concluded to pretend it was an intentional joke, originating from his own fertile brain; Miss Temple smiled on him, Miss Noddington declared him charmingly cute, and the corporal felt himself quite a hero. After further favoring the company with choice selections, he launched out on history, which he brought down to the present time by allusions to his adventures since he had been in the army. "Have you ever been in any engagement, corporal?" asked sweet Miss Temple. "Yes, Miss Temple, I have been where bullets flew thicker--hem, hem!--than hail stones; replied Corporal Diggs. "Where was it?" asked the blonde. "Once at Wolf Creek." "Were you not frightened?" "I was as cool as I ever was in my life," replied Corporal Diggs, leaning back in his chair, and looking very brave. "That was because you were so deep down in mud and water under the drift-wood," put in Seth Williams. Corporal Diggs turned a look of wrath on his companion. "Who said I was in the mud and water?" he demanded, fiercely. "Who saw me in the mud and water?" "No one, I don't suppose; but Lieutenant Whimple found you on the bank, looking very much as though you had just left the hands of Crazy Joe." Before Corporal Diggs could reply, Miss Temple, rising, begged him to walk with her on the piazza. As the two went away, Seth laughed for the first time during the evening, and told his companion the story of Crazy Joe's mud man. The lawn had been converted into a dining-room, and long rows of tables were spread there; Chinese lanterns hung from all the trees, and an army of black waiters was in attendance.