Here was a critical situation for me! A mad captain about to blow the gampus (i.e. souse) a lord of the Admiralty, that same lord, I firmly believed, about to declare himself my father. I was, in a manner, spell-bound. Afraid to interrupt the conference, I bethought me that my Lord Whiffledale would be no less my father wet or dry, and so I determined to let things take their course. So I permitted his lordship to go on with his questions, at every one of which Captain Reud, looking more like a baboon than a human being, canted the globe more and more. "All very satisfactory--all very satisfactory, indeed! And now, Ralph, on whom have you been in the habit of drawing for your allowance while you were in the West Indies?" "Mr ---, of King's Bench Walk, in the Temple." "Perfectly correct--perfectly"--(still reading). "Are you a well-grown youth for your age?" "I am." "Of an interesting physiognomy?" Here the malicious madman grinned at me in the most laughable manner, over the devoted head of the ancient lord. "I hope you will think so, my lord, when I have recovered my usual looks." "Ugh--hum--ha--of dark brown hair, approaching to black?" "With intensely black eyes." "No."--"YES." Mine was the negative, Captain Reud's the affirmative, spoken simultaneously. At this crisis his lordship had made a very proper and theatrical start. Captain Reud grasped the glass with both hands; and the severe, bright eye of Dr Thompson fell upon the prank-playing captain. The effect was instantaneous: he slunk away from his intended mischief; completely subdued. The fire left his eye, the grin his countenance; and he stood beside his lordship in a moment, the quiet and gentlemanly post-captain, deferentially polite in the presence of his superior. I understood the thing in a moment--it was the keeper and his patient. "I am particularly sorry, my lord," said the doctor--"I am very particularly sorry, Captain Reud, to break in upon you unannounced; the fact is, I did knock several times but I suppose I was not heard. This letter, my lord, I hope will be a sufficient apology." His lordship took the letter with a proud condescension. Captain Reud said, "Dr Thompson's presence is always acceptable to me." Lord Whiffledale read this letter over three times distinctly; then, from his usual white he turned a palish purple, then again became white. In no other manner did he seem to lose his self-possession. "Dr Thompson," said he, at length, very calmly, "let me see some of these documents immediately." "Anticipating the request, my lord, I have them with me." The doctor then placed in his hands several letters and papers. At length, his lordship exclaimed: "I am confounded. It is wholly beyond my comprehension--I know not how to act. It is excessively distressing. I wish, on my soul, I had never meddled in the business. Can I see the young man?" "Certainly, my lord; I will bring him to you immediately."