on top of that. "I never
can do it," thought I. "Tom will hoot at you if you don't," whispered
the inconvenient little voice that is always goading people to the
performance of disagreeable duties, and always appeals to the most
effective agent to produce the proper result. The idea of allowing any
boy that ever wore a felt basin and a shoddy jacket with a microscopic
tail, to crow over me, was preposterous, so giving myself a mental slap
for such faint-heartedness, I streamed away across the Common,
wondering if I ought to say "your Honor," or simply "Sir," and decided
upon the latter, fortifying myself with recollections of an evening in
a charming green library, where I beheld the Governor placidly
consuming oysters, and laughing as if Massachusetts was a myth, and he
had no heavier burden on his shoulders than his host's handsome hands.

Like an energetic fly in a very large cobweb, I struggled through the
State House, getting into all the wrong rooms and none of the right,
till I turned desperate, and went into one, resolving not to come out
till I'd made somebody hear and answer me. I suspect that of all the
wrong places I had blundered into, this was the most so. But I didn't
care; and, though the apartment was full of soldiers, surgeons,
starers, and spittoons, I cornered a perfectly incapable person, and
proceeded to pump for information with the following result:

"Was the Governor anywhere about?"

No, he wasn't.

"Could he tell me where to look?"

No, he couldn't.

"Did he know anything about free passes?"

No, he didn't.

"Was there any one there of whom I could inquire?"

Not a person.

"Did he know of any place where information could be obtained?"

Not a place.

"Could he throw the smallest gleam of light upon the matter, in any
way?"

Not a ray.

I am naturally irascible, and if I could have shaken this negative
gentleman vigorously, the relief would have been immense. The
prejudices of society forbidding this mode of redress, I merely
glowered at him; and, before my wrath found vent in words, my General
appeared, having seen me from an opposite window, and come to know what
I was about. At her command the languid gentleman woke up, and troubled
himself to remember that Major or Sergeant or something Mc K. knew all
about the tickets, and his office was in Milk Street. I perked up
instanter, and then, as if the exertion was too much for him, what did
this animated wet blanket do but a