At supper they had, for their vis-a-vis, a tall, aristocratic-looking
man, attired airily in a mixture of jean and silk. His nose was
aquiline, his eyes grey and piercing withal, his hair grey, but
abundant, and his clean shaved mouth and chin mingled delicacy with
strength of character.
"The weathah has been wahm, gentlemen," he remarked; to which statement
they assented.
"I obsehved you entah the ho-tel, and pehceived that you are travelling
for pleasuhe by yo-ah knapsacks. I also am travelling, partly foh
pleasuhe, partly foh mattahs of family business. My ideahs, gentlemen,
are old fashioned, too much so foh railyoads. The Mississippi is ouah
natuhal highway from the South, but, unfohtunately, the to me unpleasant
railyoad had to connect its head watahs with Lake Michigan, by which
route I find myself heah, on my way to a city called To-hon-to. You know
it, I pehsume?"
Wilkinson's geographical lore was now unfolded. He discussed the
Mississippi, although he had not been on that river, exhibited an
intimate acquaintance with cities and routes which had never seen him in
the flesh, and, by his quiet, gentlemanly, and, to the much older man,
deferential tone, was admitted to the confidence of Colonel Morton, of
Louisiana, South American trader, ship-owner and the possessor of a fine
estate, which, although it had suffered greatly during the war, in which
the colonel commanded a cavalry regiment, was yet productive and
remunerative.
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