But the most noticeable feature in this nautical craze was the
disproportionate attention which the Honourable Frederic lavished on
barques. It was the first rig that he learnt to distinguish, and his
early interest developed before long into something like a passion.
One morning, for instance, Sam Buzza lounged into the reading-room
and observed--
"I say, have you seen that American barque that came in last night--
the _Maritana?_"
"What name?" asked Mr. Goodwyn-Sandys, looking up suddenly.
"The _Maritana_, or the _Mariana_, or _Mary Ann_, or something of
the--Hullo! what's wrong?"
But the Honourable Frederic had caught up his hat and fled. Half an
hour afterwards, when he returned, his usual calm self, the little
Doctor took occasion to remark, "Upon my word, you might be a
detective, you keep such a look-out on the harbour"--a remark which
caused Mr. Goodwyn-Sandys to laugh so consumedly that the Doctor,
without exactly seeing the point, began to think he had perpetrated
quite a considerable joke.
But let no one imagine that the disruption of Trojan morals avoided
heart-burning or escaped criticism. For the line which Mr.
Goodwyn-Sandys declared must be drawn somewhere was found not only to
bisect the domestic hearth, but to lead to a surprising number of
social problems.
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