had
not opened his mouth. It is, therefore, singular that, before twelve
o'clock the next day, rumors of the adventure had reached the ears of
more than one-half the inhabitants of Hillsdale. True, none were very
accurate, nor did any two agree; for, as is apt to happen, in such
cases, each one who told the story took care, most conscientiously,
it should lose nothing in the repetition. Hence, before noon, it was,
like most of our modern literature, "splendidly embellished."

It was not strange, then, that the doctor, in his morning round among
his patients and friends, should get some inkling of it. Divested of
ornaments, enough remained to satisfy him that an attempt to arrest
Holden had been made. For the cause, he was at first at a loss; for,
though he had heard of the disturbance at the conference, he hardly
supposed that an offence which he regarded as so venial, would
have drawn along such serious consequences. But when he heard that
generally assigned as the reason, having no words of his own to
express his astonishment, he was obliged to resort to his unfailing
treasury--

"'Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer cloud,
Without our special wonder?'"

The quotation did not seem fully to answer the purpose, and he
added, "Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun: it shines
everywhere." This gave him relief. It acted more soothingly than
his own anodyne drops; and, having thus recovered his equanimity, he
determined to ascertain if the Armstrongs had heard the news.

He found Miss Armstrong at home, but not her father.

"You have heard the news, Faith, this morning. I suppose?" said the
doctor.

"No; we are not much like the Athenians. Neither my father nor myself
are accustomed to get the first edition. What is it, doctor?"

But the doctor did not relish being called, by the remotest
implication, an Athenian. As inquisitive as the most prying Yankee is
said to be, he stoutly repelled the imputation of inquisitiveness, as
applied to himself or to his countrymen. "It was," he was in the habit
of saying, "a slander invented by your porter-guzzling Englishmen and
smoking Dutchmen. What can you expect of people who are involved in
a perpetual cloud either of their own raising or of the making of
Providence? They are adapted to circumstances. It never was intended
they should have more than one idea a week; it would be too much for
their constitution; and therefore they