D DOLLARS, ma'am;" answered Bobbinet, solemnly. "Not a cent
more, on my honor."

"No, surely!" exclaimed Eudosia, with delight instead of alarm. "Not a
HUNDRED!"

"ONE HUNDRED, Miss Eudosia, to the last cent; then we scarcely make a
living profit."

"Why, Mr. Bobbinet, this is the highest priced handkerchief that was
ever sold in New York." This was said with a sort of rapture, the fair
creature feeling all the advantage of having so good an opportunity of
purchasing so dear an article.

"In America, ma'am. It is the highest priced handkerchief, by twenty
dollars, that ever crossed the Atlantic. The celebrated Miss Jewel's,
of Boston, only cost seventy-nine."

"Only! Oh, Mr. Bobbinet, I MUST have it. It is a perfect treasure!"

"Shall I send it, Miss Eudosia; or don't you like to trust it out of
your sight?"

"Not yet, sir. To own the truth, I have not so much money. I only came
out to buy a few trifles, and brought but fifty dollars with me; and Pa
insists on having no bills. I never knew any body as particular as Pa;
but I will go instantly home and show him the importance of this
purchase. You will not let the handkerchief be seen for ONE hour--only
ONE hour--and then you shall hear from me."

To this Bobbinet assented. The young lady tripped into her carriage,
and was instantly whirled from the door. In precisely forty-three
minutes, a maid entered, half out of breath, and laid a note on the
counter. The latter contained Mr. Halfacre's check for one hundred
dollars, and a request from the fair Eudosia that I might be delivered
to her messenger. Every thing was done as she had desired, and, in five
minutes, I was going up Broadway as fast as Honor O'Flagherty's (for
such was the name of the messenger) little dumpy legs could carry me.

CHAPTER X.

Mr. Henry Half acre was a speculator in town-lots--a profession that
was, just then, in high repute in the city of New York. For farms, and
all the more vulgar aspects of real estate, he had a sovereign
contempt; but offer him a bit of land that could be measured by feet
and inches, and he was your man. Mr. Halfacre inherited nothing; but he
was a man of what are called energy and enterprise. In other words, he
had a spirit for running in debt, and never shrunk from jeoparding
property that, in truth, belonged to his creditors. The very morning
that his eldest child, Eudosia, made her valuable acquisition, in my
person, Henry Halfacre, Esq., was the owner o