Gertrude turned away to the window, disgusted and angry, and made
up her mind to hate Uncle Bat for ever afterwards. Linda made a
little attempt to smile, and felt somewhat glad in her heart that
her uncle was a man who could indulge in a joke.

He was then taken upstairs to his bedroom, and here he greatly
frightened Katie, and much scandalized the parlour-maid by
declaring, immediately on his entering the room, that it was 'd-----
hot, d---ation hot; craving your pardon, ladies!'

'We thought, uncle, you'd like a fire,' began Mrs. Woodward, 'as----'

'A fire in June, when I can hardly carry my coat on my back!'

'It's the last day of May now,' said Katie timidly, from behind
the bed-curtains.

This, however, did not satisfy the captain, and orders were
forthwith given that the fire should be taken away, the curtains
stripped off, the feather beds removed, and everything reduced to
pretty much the same state in which it had usually been left for
Harry Norman's accommodation. So much for all the feminine care
which had been thrown away upon the consideration of Uncle Bat's
infirmities.

'God bless my soul!' said he, wiping his brow with a huge
coloured handkerchief as big as a mainsail, 'one night in such a
furnace as that would have brought on the gout.'

He had dined in town, and by the time that his chamber had been