tem.

"Well," said this young logician, rising at last from the edge of his
bed, and heaving a bit of a sigh as he did so, "the long and short of it
is, it can't be done--never, any more; and then there comes a thing that
has got to be done right straight, and I've got to go and do it, and
that's the worst of it, and I don't know what to do next, that's a fact;
but that's neither here nor there."

With this extremely lucid explanation of his decision and his
intentions, Tode put on his hat and went to the post-office.

Thus it happened that when Mr. Hastings mail had been delivered as
usual, the boy hesitated, and finally asked with an unusual falter in
his voice:

"Can I see Mr. Hastings a minute?"

"Well, sir," said that gentleman, whirling around from his table, and
putting himself in a lounging attitude. "Well, sir, what can I do for
you this evening? Anything in the line of business?"

This he said with the serio-comic air which he seemed unable to avoid
assuming whenever he talked with this traveling companion of his.

Tode plunged at once into the pith of the matter.

"Yes, sir, I've come to talk about business. I've got to leave your
hotel, and I thought I'd better come and let you know."

"Indeed! Have you decided to change your occupation? Going to study law
or medicine, Tode?"

"I haven't made up my mind," said Tode. "I've just got to the leaving
part."

"Bad policy, my boy. Never leave one good foothold until you see just
where to put your foot when you spring."

"Ho!" said Tode, "I have stepped in a bog and sunk in; now I've got to
spring, and trust to luck for getting on a stone."

Mr. Hastings leaned back in his chair and laughed.

"You'll do," he said at length. "But seriously, my boy, what has
happened at the hotel? I heard good accounts of you, and I thought you
were getting on finely. Does Jim leave all the boots for you to black,
or what is the matter? You musn't quarrel with a good business for
trifles."

"It's not Jim nor boots, sir, it's bottles."

"Bottles!"

"Yes, sir, bottles. I'm not going to put 'em to my neighbors any more;
and I don't see what any of you mean by it. Like enough, though, you
never noticed that figure?"

"Are you sure you know what you are talking about, Tode?" inquired Mr.
Hastings, with a curious mixture of amusement and dignity. "Because I
certainly do not seem able to follow your train of thought."

"Why, that Habakkuk; he's the one who says it, s