ut of the coat-pocket, was.
"It must be number thirteen!" I exclaimed; and as the little old
gentleman was sauntering north, I shaped my course with all possible
celerity in a southerly direction.

In order to protect myself for the future, I took precautionary
measures; and in addition to having myself denied, I kept the window
down, and made my egress and ingress through a door round the corner, as
Peter told me he had several times seen the little old gentleman, with a
package in his hand, standing opposite the one through which we usually
entered, and looking at the office wistfully.

By means of these arrangements, I succeeded in preserving my solitude
inviolate, when, to my indignation, I received several letters from
different parts of the country, written by my friends, and pressing upon
me, at the solicitation of the little old gentleman, the propriety of
giving the "Thespian Magazine" a good notice. I tore the letters, each
one as I read them, into three pieces, and dropped them under the table.
Business calling me, soon after, to Philadelphia, I stepped on board the
steamboat, exhilarated with the idea that I was to have at least two or
three weeks' respite. I reached the place of my destination about five
o'clock in the afternoon. It was lovely weather. The water spread out
like unrippled glass, and the sky was painted with a thousand varying
shadows of crimson and gold. The boat touched the shore, and while I was
watching the change of a lovely cloud, I heard the splash of a heavy
body plunged into the water. A sudden sensation ran along the crowd,
which rushed from all quarters towards the spot; the ladies shrieked and
turned away their heads: and I perceived that a man had fallen from the
deck, and was struggling in the tide, with only one hand held
convulsively above the surface. Being a practised swimmer, I hesitated
not a moment, but flung off my hat and coat, and sprang to his rescue.
With some difficulty I succeeded in bearing him to a boat and dragging
him from the stream. I had no sooner done so, than to my horror and
astonishment I found I had saved the little hard-faced old gentleman.
His snuff-colored breeches were dripping before me--his broad-brimmed
hat floated on the current--but his cane (thank Heaven!) had sunk
forever. He suffered no other ill consequences from the catastrophe than
some injury to his garments and the loss of his cane. His gratitude for
my exertions knew no bounds. He ass