"I am afraid that my stay here must be brief, and limited to business,"
said Hathaway, who had merely noticed that the principal girl was
handsome and original-looking. "In fact, I am here partly to see an
old acquaintance--Colonel Pendleton."

The three men looked at each other curiously. "Oh! Harry Pendleton,"
said Mr. Hoskins, incredulously "You don't know HIM?"

"An old pioneer--of course," interposed Shear, explanatorily and
apologetically. "Why, in Paul's time the colonel was a big man here."

"I understand the colonel has been unfortunate," said Hathaway,
gravely; "but in MY time he was President of the El Dorado Bank."

"And the bank hasn't got through its settlement yet," said Hoskins "I
hope YOU ain't expecting to get anything out of it?"

"No," said Hathaway, smiling; "I was a boy at that time, and lived up
to my salary. I know nothing of his bank difficulties, but it always
struck me that Colonel Pendleton was himself an honorable man."

"It ain't that," said Captain Stidger energetically, "but the trouble
with Harry Pendleton is that he hasn't grown with the State, and never
adjusted himself to it. And he won't. He thinks the Millennium was
between the fall of '49 and the spring of '50, and after that
everything dropped. He belongs to the old days, when a man's simple
WORD was good for any amount if you knew him; and they say that the old
bank hadn't a scrap of paper for half that was owing to it. That was
all very well, sir, in '49 and '50, and--Luck; but it won't do for '59
and '60, and--Business! And the old man can't see it."

"But he is ready to fight for it now, as in the old time," said Mr.
Slate, "and that's another trouble with his chronology. He's done more
to keep up dueling than any other man in the State, and don't know the
whole spirit of progress and civilization is against it."

It was impossible to tell from Paul Hathaway's face whether his
sympathy with Colonel Pendleton's foibles or his assent to the
criticisms of his visitors was the truer. Both were no doubt equally
sincere. But the party was presently engaged in the absorption of
refreshment, which, being of a purely, spirituous and exhilarating
quality, tended to increase their good humor with the host till they
parted. Even then a gratuitous advertisement of his virtues and their
own intentions in calling upon him was oratorically voiced from
available platforms and landings, in the halls and stairways, until it