le you are a talkin'. I wouldn't go to shock you by a doin' of it
coarse; you are too quick, and too knowin' for that. You should smell
the otter o' roses, and sniff, sniff it up your nostrils, and say to
yourself, 'How nice that is, ain't it? Come, I like that, how sweet
it stinks!' I wouldn't go for to dash scented water on your face, as a
hired lady does on a winder to wash it, it would make you start back,
take out your pocket-handkercher, and say, "Come, _Mister_ Slick, no
nonsense, if you please." I'd do it delicate, I know my man: I'd use a
light touch, a soft brush, and a smooth oily rouge."

"Pardon me," I said, "you overrate your own powers, and over-estimate
my vanity. You are flattering yourself now, you can't flatter me, for I
detest it."

"Creation, man," said Mr. Slick, "I have done it now afore your face,
these last five minutes, and you didn't know it. Well, if that don't
bang the bush. It's tarnation all over that. Tellin' you, you was so
knowin', so shy if touched on the flanks; how difficult you was to
take-in, bein' a sensible, knowin' man, what's that but soft sawder? You
swallowed it all. You took it off without winkin', and opened your mouth
as wide as a young blind robbin does for another worm, and then down
went the Bunkum about making you a Secretary of State, which was rather
a large bolus to swaller, without a draft; down, down it went, like a
greased-wad through a smooth rifle bore; it did, upon my soul. Heavens!
what a take in! what a splendid sleight-of-hand! I never did nothin'
better in all my born days. I hope I may be shot, if I did. Ha! ha! ha!
ain't it rich? Don't it cut six inches on the rib of clear shear, that.
Oh! it's han_sum_, that's a fact."

"It's no use to talk about it, Mr. Slick," I replied; "I plead guilty.
You took me in then. You touched a weak point. You insensibly flattered
my vanity, by assenting to my self-sufficiency, in supposing I was
exempt from that universal frailty of human nature; you "_threw the
Lavender_" well."

"I did put the leake into you, Squire, that's a fact," said he; "but let
me alone, I know what I am about; let me talk on, my own way. Swaller
what you like, spit out what is too strong for you; but don't put a
drag-chain on to me, when I am a doin' tall talkin', and set my wheels
as fast as pine stumps. You know me, and I know you. You know my speed,
and I know your bottom don't throw back in the breetchin' for nothin'
that way."

"Well, a