But to think that a young fellow like Dolph, of such
wonderful abilities, who could shoot, fish, run, jump, ride, and
wrestle, should be obliged, to roll pills and administer juleps for a
living--'twas monstrous! He told Dolph never to despair, but to "throw
physic to the dogs;" for a young fellow of his prodigious talents
could never fail to make his way. "As you seem to have no acquaintance
in Albany," said Heer Antony, "you shall go home with me, and remain
under my roof until you can look about you; and in the meantime we can
take an occasional bout at shooting and fishing, for it is a pity such
talents should lie idle."
Dolph, who was at the mercy of chance, was not hard to be persuaded.
Indeed, on turning over matters in his mind, which he did very sagely
and deliberately, he could not but think that Antony Vander Heyden
was, "some how or other," connected with the story of the Haunted
House; that the misadventure in the highlands, which had thrown them
so strangely together, was, "some how or other," to work out something
good: in short, there is nothing so convenient as this "some how or
other" way of accommodating one's self to circumstances; it is the
main-stay of a heedless actor, and tardy reasoner, like Dolph
Heyliger; and he who can, in this loose, easy way, link foregone evil
to anticipated good, possesses a secret of happiness almost equal to
the philosopher's stone.
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