I am ashamed to own how little I could oppose to all his impertinences
about our village and its habits; or how impossible I found it not to
laugh at his absurd descriptions of a life which, without having ever
witnessed, he depicted with a rare accuracy. He was shrewd enough not
to push this ridicule offensively; and long before I knew it, I found
myself regarding, with his eyes, a picture in which, but a few months
back, I stood as a foreground figure. I ought to confess, that no
artificial aid was derived from either good cheer or the graces of
hospitality; we sat by a miserable lamp, in a wretchedly cold chamber,
our sole solace some bad cigars, and a can of flat, stale cider.

'I have not a morsel to offer you to eat, Maurice, but to-morrow we'll
breakfast on my razors, dine on that old looking-glass, and sup on two
hard brushes and the wig!'

Such were the brilliant pledges, and we closed a talk which the
nickering lamp at last put an end to.

A broken, unconnected conversation followed for a little time, but at
length, worn out and wearied, each dropped off to sleep--Eugene on the
straw settle, and I in the old chair--never to awake till the bright sun
was streaming in between the shutters, and dancing merrily on the tiled
floor.

An hour before I awoke, he had completed the sale of all his little
stock-in-trade, and with a last look round the spot where he had passed
some months of struggling poverty, out we sailed into the town.

'We'll breakfast at Jonathan Hone's,' said Santron.

'It's the first place here. I'll treat you to rump-steaks, pumpkin pie,
and a gin twister that will astonish you. Then, while I'm arranging for
our passage down the Hudson, you'll see the hospitable banker, and tell
him how to forward all his papers, and so forth, to the settlement, with
your respectful compliments and regrets, and the rest of it.'

'But am I to take leave of them in this fashion?' asked I.

'Unless you want me to accompany you there, I think it's by far the best
way,' said he laughingly. 'If, however, you think that my presence and
companionship will add any lustre to your position, say the word, and
I'm ready. I know enough of the barber's craft now to make up a head _en
Puritain_, and, if you wish, I'll pledge myself to impose upon the whole
colony.'

Here was a threat there was no mistaking; and any imputation of
ingratitude on my part were far preferable to the thought of such
an indignity. He saw hi