nny
could not be disputed, and after consulting counsel in the premises, Mr.
Hardinge himself had been compelled, reluctantly, to admit it. Such was
the substance of what I gleaned from the miller, in a random sort of
conversation that lasted an hour. Of course, much remained to be
explained, but I had learned enough, to know that I was virtually a beggar
as to means, whatever I might be in feeling.

When I parted from Jared I gave him my address, and we were to meet again
next day. The old man felt an interest in me that was soothing to my
feelings, and I wished to glean all I could from him; more especially
concerning Lucy and Mr. Hardinge. I now followed Marble and Neb to the
boarding-house, one frequented by masters and mates of ships, the masters
being of the humble class to condescend thus to mingle with their
subordinates. We consumed the rest of the morning in establishing
ourselves in our rooms, and in putting on our best round-abouts; for I was
not the owner of a coat that had skirts to it, unless, indeed there might
be a few old garments of that sort among the effects that had been removed
from Clawbonny to the Wright farm. Notwithstanding this defect in my
wardrobe, I would not have the reader suppose I made a mean or a
disagreeable appearance. On the contrary, standing as I did, six feel
one, in my shoes, attired in a neat blue round-about of mate's cloth, with
a pair of quarter-deck trowsers, a clean white shirt, a black silk
handkerchief, and a vest of a pretty but modest pattern, I was not at all
ashamed to be seen. I had come from England, a country in which clothes
are both good and cheap, and a trimmer-looking tar than I then was, seldom
showed himself in the lower part of the town.

Marble and I had dined, and were preparing to sally forth on a walk up
Broadway, when I saw a meagre, care-worn, bilious-looking sort of a person
enter the house, and proceed towards the bar, evidently with an inquiry
concerning some of the inmates. The bar-tender pointed at once to me, when
the stranger approached, and with a species of confidence that seemed to
proclaim that he fancied news to be the great end of life, and that all
who were engaged in its dissemination were privileged beings, he announced
himself as Colonel Warbler, the Editor of the New York Republican Freeman.
I asked the gentleman into the common sitting-room, when the following
dialogue took place between us.

"We have just heard of your arrival,