Had the mail passed the market-town, before you reached it, sir ?" "It had not, Admiral Oakes; and I have the satisfaction of knowing that your despatches are now several hours on their way to London.

I reached the office just in season to see them mailed." "Humph! On board the Plantagenet, it is the custom for an officer to report any important duty done, as soon as it is in a condition to be thus laid before the superior!" "I presume that is the usage in all His Majesty's ships, Sir Gervaise Oakes: but I have been taught that a proper discretion, when it does not interfere with positive orders, and sometimes when it does, is a surer sign of a useful officer, than even the most slavish attention to rules." "That is a just distinction, young gentleman, though safer in the hands of a captain, perhaps, than in those of a lieutenant," returned the vice-admiral, glancing at his friend, though he secretly admired the youth's spirit.

"Discretion is a comparative term; meaning different things with different persons.

May I presume to ask what Mr.Wycherly Wychecombe calls discretion, in the present instance ?" "You have every right, sir, to know, and I only wanted your permission to tell my whole story.

While waiting to see the London mail start with your despatches, and to rest my horse, a post-chaise arrived that was carrying a gentleman, who is suspected of being a Jacobite, to his country-seat, some thirty miles further west.