suppose you've got to have ten cents, Jerry. That's all right--when a

man works for me--when a man--in the other pocket, I reckon--when a man

--why, where the mischief as that portmonnaie!--when a--well now that's

odd--Oh, now I remember, must have left it at the bank; and b'George I've

left my check-book, too--Polly says I ought to have a nurse--well, no

matter. Let me have a dime, Washington, if you've got--ah, thanks. Now

clear out, Jerry, your complexion has brought on the twilight half an

hour ahead of time. Pretty fair joke--pretty fair. Here he is, Polly!

Washington's come, children! come now, don't eat him up--finish him in

the house. Welcome, my boy, to a mansion that is proud to shelter the

son of the best man that walks on the ground. Si Hawkins has been a good

friend to me, and I believe I can say that whenever I've had a chance to

put him into a good thing I've done it, and done it pretty cheerfully,

too. I put him into that sugar speculation--what a grand thing that was,

if we hadn't held on too long!"

True enough; but holding on too long had utterly ruined both of them;

and the saddest part of it was, that they never had had so much money to

lose before, for Sellers's sale of their mule crop that year in New

Orleans had been a great financial success. If he had kept out of sugar

and gone back home content to stick to mules it would have been a happy

wisdom. As it was, he managed to kill two birds with one stone--that is

to say, he killed the sugar speculation by holding for high rates till he

had to sell at the bottom figure, and that calamity killed the mule that

laid the golden egg--which is but a figurative expression and will be so

understood. Sellers had returned home cheerful but empty-handed, and the

The Gilded Age