he intended to stop at this hotel. He has been here about an hour."

"No, he hasn't. The only man that has been here for lodging to-day was
an old clodhopper who was so spattered with mud that you couldn't see
the color of his coat. I sent him round to the Planters'."

"Did he have reddish-brown hair, and did he ride a gray horse?"

"Yes, and he was quite tall."

"That was Mr. Jefferson," said the gentleman.

"Mr. Jefferson!" cried the landlord. "Was that the vice president?
Here, Dick! build a fire in the best room. Put everything in tiptop
order, Sally. What a dunce I was to turn Mr. Jefferson away! He shall
have all the rooms in the house, and the ladies' parlor, too, I'll go
right round to the Planters' and fetch him back."

So he went to the other hotel, where he found the vice president
sitting with some friends in the parlor.

"Mr. Jefferson," he said, "I have come to ask your pardon. You were
so bespattered with mud that I thought you were some old farmer. If
you'll come back to my house, you shall have the best room in it--yes,
all the rooms if you wish. Won't you come?"

"No," answered Mr. Jefferson. "A farmer is as good as any other man;
and where there's no room for a farmer, there can be no room for me."