even ef we haven't classes and titles and sich, we kin be dull.
We're workin' the historical racket for all that it's worth,--ef we
can't go back mor'n a hundred years or so, we kin rake in a Lord
and a Lady when we do, and we're gettin' in some ole-fashioned
spellin' and "methinkses" and "peradventures." We're doin' the
religious bizness ez slick ez Robert Elsmere, and we find lots o'
soul in folks--and heaps o quaint morril characters,' sez he."

"Sakes alive, Dan'l!" broke in his sister; "what's all that got to
do with your yarn 'bout the hoss trade?"

"Everythin'," returned Dan'l. "'For,' sez he, 'Mr. Borem,' sez he,
'you're a quaint morril character. You've got protracted humor,'
sez he. 'You've bin an hour tellin' that yarn o' yours! Ef ye
could spin it out to fill two chapters of a book--yer fortune's
made! For you'll show that a successful hoss trade involves the
highest nash'nul characteristics. That what common folk calls
"selfishness," "revenge," "mean lyin'," and "low-down money-
grubbin' ambishun" is really "quaintness," and will go in double
harness with the bizness of a Christian banker,' sez he."

"Created goodness, Dan'l! You're designin' ter"--

Dan'l Borem rose, coughed, expectorated carefully at the usual spot
in the fender, his general custom of indicating the conclusion of a
subject or an interview, and said dryly: "I'm thar!"


II