e him, hobbled out of
the room. You maybe sure I said some pretty sharp things to him, for I
was out of humor to begin with, and it is one thing to be insulted by a
stout young man, and quite another to be abused by a wretched old
cripple. However, he went away, and I supposed, for my part, that I was
done with the whole business.

An hour later, however, I heard a rough knock at my door, and, opening
it hastily, saw my red-headed young man with the cripple.

"Now," said the former, catching me by the collar, and pulling me into
the room among my patients, "I want to know, my man, if this doctor said
that it was likely I was the thief, after all?"

"That's what he said," replied the cripple; "just about that, sir."

I do not desire to dwell on the after conduct of this hot-headed young
man. It was the more disgraceful, as I offered but little resistance,
and endured a beating such as I would have hesitated to inflict upon a
dog. Nor was this all; he warned me that, if I dared to remain in the
city after a week, he would shoot me. In the East I should have thought
but little of such a threat, but here it was only too likely to be
practically carried out. Accordingly, with much grief and reluctance, I
collected my whole fortune, which now amounted to at least seven
thousand dollars, and turned my back upon this ungrateful town. I am
sorry to say that I also left behind me the last of my good luck, as
hereafter I was to encounter only one calamity after another.

Travelling slowly eastward, my spirits began at last to rise to their
usual level, and when I arrived in Boston I set myself to thinking how
best I could contrive to enjoy life, and at the same time to increase my
means.

On former occasions I was a moneyless adventurer; now I possessed
sufficient capital, and was able and ready to embark in whatever
promised the best returns with the smallest personal risk. Several
schemes presented themselves as worthy the application of industry and
talent, but none of them altogether suited my tastes. I thought at times
of travelling as a Physiological Lecturer, combining with it the
business of a practitioner. Scare the audience at night with an
enumeration of symptoms which belong to ten out of every dozen of
healthy people, and then doctor such of them as are gulls enough to
consult me next day. The bigger the fright, the better the pay. I was a
little timid, however, about facing large audiences, as a man will be
na