rt to the boarding house,
which I found to be a handsome edifice in a genteel part of the city. I
knocked at the door and inquired for my kinsman. The servant ushered me
into a hall and left me. He was absent some time, during which I was an
object of curiosity to several persons of both sexes who entered or left
an adjoining apartment. One very pretty young woman seemed unpleasantly
struck with my appearance, and expressed in audible tones her
astonishment at my impertinence in entering the front door. The servant
at length returned and said the gentleman I wanted was unwell, and could
not be seen.

I was thunderstruck at this announcement, and declared it must be a
mistake. I bade him return and tell the gentlemen I was the person whom
he requested to call that morning at nine o'clock on important business.
Some ten minutes elapsed; my pride took the alarm. Could he be inventing
some paltry excuse for getting rid of what he might consider my
importunities? The young woman again appeared who had before honored me
with her notice, and who I presumed was the daughter of the woman who
kept the house. She accosted me in a manner by no means flattering to my
self-esteem, and told me the gentleman whom I so absolutely persisted in
seeing was quite unwell, and unable to converse with any one that day;
that I must come tomorrow or the day following, or some other day, when
he would be quite well and at leisure! With a contemptuous toss of her
pretty head, she showed me the door, and motioned me to depart.

"Tell him," said I, "that I shall not trouble him again." She smiled, as
if my remark met her hearty approval, and closed the door with a slam!

I slowly returned, through the many magnificent thoroughfares of
Baltimore, to the schooner. The streets were thronged with people
elegantly dressed, who appeared to be rejoicing in their good fortune
and happy in their friends and families. As I pensively wandered along,
unnoticed and unknown, I felt all my loneliness, and began to think the
prosperous and happy times would never arrive that had been promised in
my dreams. The conduct of my relative disappointed me much. It shook
my confidence in mankind, and paralyzed my small stock of self-esteem a
quality essential to even ordinary success in life.

Captain Thompson, perceiving my dejected air, inquired into the
particulars of my interview. I related to him the facts, but suggested
excuses, and placed the matter in as favorab