I could as little comprehend all this as why the captain looked so black when I passed him; but it was soon explained when I went up to him in the parlour at the George Inn.

"I am sorry, Mr Simple," said the captain, when I entered, "that a lad like you should show such early symptoms of depravity; still more so, that he should not have the grace which even the most hardened are not wholly destitute of--I mean to practise immorality in secret, and not degrade themselves and insult their captain by unblushingly avowing (I may say glorying in) their iniquity, by exposing it in broad day, and in the most frequented street of the town." "Sir," replied I with astonishment, "O dear! O dear! what have I done ?" The captain fixed his keen eyes upon me, so that they appeared to pierce me through, and nail me to the wall.

"Do you pretend to say, sir, that you were not aware of the character of the person with whom you were walking just now ?" "No, sir," replied I; "except that she was very kind and good-natured;" and then I told him how she had addressed me, and what subsequently took place.
"And is it possible, Mr Simple, that you are so great a fool ?" I replied that I certainly was considered the greatest fool of our family.

"I should think you were," replied he, drily.

He then explained to me who the person was with whom I was in company, and how any association with her would inevitably lead to my ruin and disgrace.
I cried very much, for I was shocked at the narrow escape which I had had, and mortified at having fallen in his good opinion.