"The bargain is made, and your passage to New York is assured,"
exclaimed John to Benjamin, when they met, at the end of two hours.
"Have any trouble to accomplish it? You did not awaken his suspicion,
did you?" replied Benjamin, evidently relieved of considerable anxiety
by the announcement.
"No trouble, of course; I did not mean to have any, if lying would
prevent it."
"Then you had to resort to falsehood to carry your point, did you? How
was that, John?"
"Well, you see, he questioned me pretty closely, and seemed to be
suspicious that you might be a pauper or criminal. He wouldn't want to
carry you if you were a pauper, for he would get no pay for it; and he
would not carry a criminal, for fear of getting into trouble with the
authorities. So I had to originate a little love story, in which you
are represented as fleeing from a girl and her parents, who are
determined that you shall marry her."
"You are more original than I thought you were, John. You might write
a novel out of the affair."
"Yes; and it would be no worse than half the novels that are written,"
rejoined John. "I had a plot to get you to New York, and the novel
writer often has a plot that is not half so important, nor half so
much truth in it."
"How soon will the sloop sail?"
"Next Saturday, at two o'clock in the afternoon, so you will not have
to wait long.
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