Was almighty obliged to him
for his night's hospitality to Miss Frona, seein' as he'd ben
side-tracked down the line; that any kindness to her was a kindness to
him; and that he'd remember it, by God, as long as he had a corner of a
blanket to pull over him. Hoped it hadn't put him out. Miss Frona'd
said that bedding was scarce, but it wasn't a cold night (more blowy
than crisp), so he reckoned there couldn't 'a' ben much shiverin'. All
of which struck Corliss as perilous, and he broke away at the first
opportunity, leaving the pocket-miner yearning for the door.
But Dave Harney, who had not come by mistake, avoided gluing himself to
the first chair. Being an Eldorado king, he had felt it incumbent to
assume the position in society to which his numerous millions entitled
him; and though unused all his days to social amenities other than the
out-hanging latch-string and the general pot, he had succeeded to his
own satisfaction as a knight of the carpet. Quick to take a cue, he
circulated with an aplomb which his striking garments and long
shambling gait only heightened, and talked choppy and disconnected
fragments with whomsoever he ran up against. The Miss Mortimer, who
spoke Parisian French, took him aback with her symbolists; but he
evened matters up with a goodly measure of the bastard lingo of the
Canadian _voyageurs_, and left her gasping and meditating over a
proposition to sell him twenty-five pounds of sugar, white or brown.
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