"'What did you ask her?' cried the woman. 'She was out there for the
longest time, and I thought of course you was gettin' your note
changed.'

"Sam smiled. 'She was very interesting,' said he."

"What a treasure Sam Twitty would be in a matrimonial bureau!" exclaimed
the Mistress of the House.

"Provided he exercised a little more caution in the selection of his
specimens," suggested John Gayther, respectfully. "Some might be too
green and some the other way, you know; he didn't seem over-particular."

"Three travellers passed through," continued the Master of the House,
"but not one of them could change a five-dollar note; and Abner chafed
at the delay.

"'I don't like wastin' time like this,' said he to Sam, as the two
smoked their after-dinner pipes.

"'Wastin'!' exclaimed Sam. 'I don't call this wastin' time. We didn't
start till late this mornin', and here we've got sight of two of her
a'ready. Here's this one, as red-cheeked and sociable as anybody could
expect, and then there's that gal in the buggy.'

"'Gal in the buggy!' exclaimed Abner. 'What on earth are you talkin'
about her for?'

"'Why shouldn't I?' asked Sam. 'I tell you, Cap'n Abner, she's the
prettiest and the liveliest young woman you'd be likely to meet if you
cruised for a year, and she's visitin' right in the neighborhood, and
can't be far from Shamrick.'

"'Codwollops!' said Abner, contemptuously.

"In the course of an hour old Joshua Asbury drove up in his farm-wagon,
and changed the five-dollar note, and was glad to do it, for he did not
like to carry so much inconvenient silver and copper in his pocket. The
two friends now made ready to depart.

"'Let's hurry up,' said Sam. 'We've done fust-rate so far, and maybe
we'll sight one or two more afore bedtime.'

"'When you come back,' said the woman, 'I'd be glad to have you stop and
rest, and give your horse a feed if you want to.'

"Sam Twitty assured her most earnestly that they certainly would stop,
whether they wanted rest and a feed or not; and he thanked her warmly as
he paid for the kind entertainment she had given them.

"'Sam,' said Abner, when they were on the road, 'the trouble with you
is, you're too quick. If you was at the tiller you'd run into the fust
port you come to, and there wouldn't be no v'yage at all.'

"'There's no knowin' when a fellow may want to run into port,' replied
Sam, 'and it's a good thing to find out all about them as you're
coastin' along.'