"Whisper;--in a bad family, wid _one_ exception. God protect _her_, the
darlin'. Amin! _A wurra yeelsh!_ may the curse that's hanging over him
never fall upon her this day!"

A kind and complacent spirit beamed in the fine eyes of the stranger, as
the waiter uttered these benevolent invocations; and, putting his hand
in his pocket, he said,

"My good friend Paudeen, I am richer than you are disposed to give me
credit for; I see you are a good-hearted fellow, and here's a crown for
you."

"No! consumin' to the farden, till I know whether you're able to afford
it or not. It's always them that has least of it, unfortunately, that's
readiest to give it. I have known many a foolish creature to do what you
are doing, when, if the truth was known, they could badly spare it; but,
at any rate, wait till I deserve it; for, upon my reputaytion, I won't
finger a testher of it sooner."

He then withdrew, and left the other to finish his dinner as best he
might.

For the next three or four days the stranger confined himself mostly
to his room, unless about dusk, when he glided out very quietly, and
disappeared rather like a spirit than anything else; for, in point of
fact, no one could tell what had become of him, or where he could have
concealed himself, during these brief but mysterious absences. Paudeen
Gair and Peggy observed that he wrote at least three or four letters
every day, and knew that he must have put them into the post-office with
his own hands, inasmuch as no person connected with the inn had been