r Mrs. Harrison--that is to say, he
had to go on making money to supply her extravagance."

One fine morning there was a great bustle and flurry; moving of trunks,
and paying of bills, and preparations for departure. The fashionables
were fairly starved out, and had gone off in a body. The brilliant
equipages of Ludlow and Loewenberg, the superfine millinery of the
Robinsons, the song and story of the Vicomte, the indefatigable
revolutions of Edwards, were all henceforth to be lost to the sojourners
at Oldport. Mr. Grabster heeded not this practical protest against the
error of his ways. He had no difficulty in filling the vacant rooms, for
a crowd of people from all parts of the Union constantly thronged
Oldport, attracted by its reputation for coolness and salubrity; and he
rather preferred people from the West and South, as they knew less about
civilized life, and were more easily imposed upon. To be sure, even they
would find out in time the deficiencies of his establishment, and report
them at home; but meanwhile he hoped to fill his pockets for two or
three seasons under cover of _The Sewer's_ puffs, and then, when
business fell off, to impose on his landlord with some plausible story,
and obtain a lowering of his rent.

Some few--a very few--of "our set" were left. Our friend Harry stayed,
because the air of the place agreed remarkably with the infant hope of
the Bensons; and a few of the beaux remained--among them Sumner, White,
and Sedley--either out of friendship for Benson, or retained by the
attractions of Mrs. Benson, or those of Mrs. Harrison; for the _lionne_
stayed of course, it being her line to do just whatever the exclusives
did not do. But though Benson remained, he was not disposed to suffer in
silence. All this while _The Sewer_ had been filled with letters lauding
every thing about the Bath Hotel; and communications equally
disinterested, and couched in the same tone, had found their way into
some more respectable prints. Benson undertook the thankless task of
undeceiving the public. He sat down one evening and wrote off a spicy
epistle to _The Blunder and Bluster_, setting forth how things really
were at Oldport. Two days after, when the New-York mail arrived, great
was the wrath of Mr. Grabster. He called into council the old gentleman
with the melodious daughter, _The Sewer_ reporters, and some other
boarders who were in his confidence; and made magnificent, but rather
vague promises, of what