ou dew talk purty
tol'eble square for an Englishwoman. You h'aint said 'Hingland' nor
'Hameriky' onst since you sot there as I knows on!'"

Mrs. Boyd put on so droll a twang, and gave her words such a curious,
downward jerk in speaking, that we all laughed, and felt we had a pretty
fair idea of how the Illinois people talk at all events.

"Everybody is very friendly," continued Mrs. Boyd, "no matter what may
be their station in life, nor what you may suppose to be yours. I
remember in Cincinnati, where I stopped for a couple of days, the porter
who got out my box for me saw it had some London and Liverpool labels on
it, whereupon he said, with a pleasant smile, 'Wal, how's Europe gettin'
on, anyhow?' Fancy a Cannon Street porter making such a remark to a
passenger! But it was quite simply said, without the faintest idea of
impertinence. In fact, it is almost impossible to say that anybody is
impertinent where you are all so absolutely on an equality."

Now all this was interesting enough, no doubt, but what I wanted to hear
about was something more startling. I could not really give up all at
once the idea of an adventure in the West, so I said, "But didn't
anything wonderful happen to you, Mrs. Boyd?"

"No, I can't say there did," replied the lady, slightly surprised, I
could see, by my question.

Then, rallying my geography with an effort, I asked, "Weren't you
carried off by the Indians, or swept away by a flood?"

"No, I was many hundred miles away from the Indian Reservation, and did
not see a single Red man," replied Mrs. Boyd; "and as for floods--well,
my dear, I could tell you the ridiculous straits we were put to for want
of water, but I can't even imagine a flood on those parched and dried-up
plains."

[Sidenote: An Adventure]

"Well," said I, in an aggrieved voice, "I think you might have come back
with at least one adventure after being away for three months."

"An adventure!" exclaimed Mrs. Boyd, in astonishment, and then a flash
of recollection passed over her countenance, and she continued, "Oh,
yes, I did have one; I had an adventure with an highwayman."

"Oh!" cried all the ladies, in a delighted chorus.

"See there, now!" said Miss Bascombe, as if appropriating to herself the
credit of the impending narrative.

"I knew it!" said I, with triumph, conscious that to me was due the
glory of unearthing the tale.

"I'll tell it to you, if you like," said Mrs. Boyd.

"Oh, pray do; we are dyin