ignation. I simply stared, feeling somewhat alarmed as I remembered
my late interview with Mr. Stuyvesant, and considered the possibility of
a plot being formed against me. He smiled again at the effect he had
produced, and drew me into a corner of the room where we sat down. 'I am
going to tell you a story,' said he, 'just to show you what a good
memory I have. One day, a year and more ago, I sauntered into an
eating-house on Dey Street. I have not always been what you see me now,
though to tell you the truth, I was but little better off at the time of
which I speak, except that I did have a dime or so in my pocket, and
could buy a meal of victuals--if I wished.' And his eyes roamed for the
first time to the tables stretching out before him down the room. 'The
proprietor was an acquaintance of mine, and finding I was sleepy as well
as hungry, let me go into a certain dark pantry, where I curled up amid
all sorts of old rubbish and went to sleep. I was awakened by the sound
of voices talking very earnestly. The closet in which I was hidden was a
temporary affair built up of loose boards, and the talk of a couple of
men seated against it was easy enough to be heard. Do you want to know
what that conversation was?'

"My curiosity was roused by this time and I said yes. If this was a plot
to extort money from me, it was undeniably better for me to know upon
just what foundations it rested. I thought the man looked surprised, but
with an aplomb difficult to believe assumed, he went on to say, 'The
voices gave me my only means of judging of the age, character, or
position of the men conversing, but I have a quick ear, and my memory is
never at fault. From the slow, broken, nervously anxious tone of one of
the men, I made up my mind that he was elderly, hard up, and not over
scrupulous; the other voice was that of a gentleman, musical and yet
pronounced, and not easily forgotten, as you see, sir. The first words I
heard aroused me and convinced me it was worth while to listen. They
were uttered by the gentleman. 'You come to me with such a dirty piece
of business! What right have you to suppose I would hearken to you for
an instant!' 'The right,' returned the other, 'of knowing you have not
been above doing dirty work in your life time.' The partition creaked at
that, as though one of the two had started forward, but I didn't hear
any reply made to this strange accusation. 'Do you think,' the same
voice went on, 'that I do not