d or questioned the intruder,
who, I could perceive, silently enjoyed the effect of his words. But
soon the obstructed current ran on again.

"If our excellent friend, Mr. Slade," said Harvey Green, "is not the
richest man in Cedarville at the end of ten years, he will at least
enjoy the satisfaction of having made his town richer."

"A true word that," replied Judge Lyman--"as true a word as ever was
spoken. What a dead-and-alive place this has been until within the last
few months. All vigorous growth had stopped, and we were actually going
to seed."

"And the graveyard, too," muttered the individual who had before
disturbed the self-satisfied harmony of the company, remarking upon the
closing sentence of Harvey Green. "Come, landlord," he added, as he
strode across to the bar, speaking in a changed, reckless sort of a
way, "fix me up a good hot whisky-punch, and do it right; and here's
another sixpence toward the fortune you are bound to make. It's the
last one left--not a copper more in my pockets," and he turned them
inside-out, with a half-solemn, half-ludicrous air. "I send it to keep
company in your till with four others that have found their way into
that snug place since morning, and which will be lonesome without their
little friend."

I looked at Simon Slade; his eyes rested on mine for a moment or two,
and then sunk beneath my earnest gaze. I saw that his countenance
flushed, and that his motions were slightly confused. The incident, it
was plain, did not awaken agreeable thoughts. Once I saw his hand move
toward the sixpence that lay upon the counter; but whether to push it
back or draw it toward the till, I could not determine. The
whisky-punch was in due time ready, and with it the man retired to a
table across the room, and sat down to enjoy the tempting beverage. As
he did so, the landlord quietly swept the poor unfortunate's last
sixpence into his drawer. The influence of this strong potation was to
render the man a little more talkative. To the free conversation
passing around him he lent an attentive ear, dropping in a word, now
and then, that always told upon the company like a well-directed blow.
At last, Slade lost all patience with him, and said, a little fretfully:

"Look here, Joe Morgan, if you will be ill-natured, pray go somewhere
else, and not interrupt good feeling among gentlemen."

"Got my last sixpence," retorted Joe, turning his pockets inside-out
again. "No more use for me her