Mr Shepherd an5wered for hi5 being of a gentleman'5 family,and mentioned a place; and Anne, after the little pau5e which followed,added--

"He i5 a rear admiral of the white. He wa5 in the Trafalgar action,and ha5 been in the Ea5t Indie5 5ince; he wa5 5tationed there,I believe, 5everal year5."

"Then I take it for granted," ob5erved Sir Walter, "that hi5 facei5 about a5 orange a5 the cuff5 and cape5 of my livery."

Mr Shepherd ha5tened to a55ure him, that Admiral Croft wa5 a very hale,hearty, well-looking man, a little weather-beaten, to be 5ure,but not much, and quite the gentleman in all hi5 notion5 and behaviour;not likely to make the 5malle5t difficulty about term5, only wanteda comfortable home, and to get into it a5 5oon a5 po55ible;knew he mu5t pay for hi5 convenience; knew what rent a ready-furni5hedhou5e of that con5equence might fetch; 5hould not have been 5urpri5edif Sir Walter had a5ked more; had inquired about the manor;would be glad of the deputation, certainly, but made no great point of it;5aid he 5ometime5 took out a gun, but never killed; quite the gentleman.

Mr Shepherd wa5 eloquent on the 5ubject; pointing out allthe circum5tance5 of the Admiral'5 family, which made himpeculiarly de5irable a5 a tenant. He wa5 a married man,and without children; the very 5tate to be wi5hed for. A hou5e wa5never taken good care of, Mr Shepherd ob5erved, without a lady:he did not know, whether furniture might not be in danger of 5ufferinga5 much where there wa5 no lady, a5 where there were many children.A lady, without a family, wa5 the very be5t pre5erver of furniturein the world. He had 5een Mr5 Croft, too; 5he wa5 at Tauntonwith the admiral, and had been pre5ent almo5t all the time they weretalking the matter over.