official entertainment in an official residence, but I think that I
must have been quite eloquent, for, when I sat down, the French
Admiral crossed the room and shook hands warmly with me, saying,
"Monsieur, au nom de la France je vous remercie."

Joss, the Guardsman, struck up an intimate alliance with a young
French naval lieutenant of his own age. As the Guardsman knew just two
words of French, and the Frenchman was totally ignorant of English, I
cannot conceive how they understood one another, but they seemed to
take great delight in each other's society, exploring together every
corner of Kingston, both by day and by night, addressing each other as
"Henri, old man," or "Joss vieux copain," and jabbering away
incessantly, each in his own tongue.

Lady Swettenham, the Governor's wife, paid a formal visit to the
Admiral on board his flag-ship, the _Desaix_, and I accompanied
her. The Admiral told Lady Swettenham that she and Lady Lathom, who
was with her, must consent to be tied up with ribbons bearing the
ship's name, the French naval fashion of doing honour to ladies of
distinction. The Flag-Lieutenant came in and took a good look at the
ladies' dresses; Lady Swettenham being in white, Lady Lathom in pale
mauve. Presently "Flags" reappeared bearing white and mauve ribbons
(of the exact shade of her dress) for Lady Lathom, and pale pink and
blue ones for Lady Swettenham, each about four yards long.
Proverbially gallant as are British naval officers, the idea of first
studying the ladies' dresses would not have occurred to them; that
little touch requires a Frenchman. We wished to take our leave, but
the Admiral begged us to remain; there was evidently something coming.
It was an intensely hot afternoon, and the heavy, red-plush furniture
and curtains of the Admiral's cabin seemed to add to the heat. His