Now though this event had absolutely slipped my memory, I now
recollected it perfectly,--ay, so my fire _was_ out indeed, and my
maid _did_ go abroad sure enough.--'Good Heavens!' said I, 'how
great events depend upon little circumstances!' However, I looked upon
this as a memento for me no longer to trifle away my time and
resolution; and thus I began to reason,--I mean, I _would_ have
reasoned, had I not been interrupted by a noise of some one coming up
stairs. By the alternate thump upon the steps, I soon discovered it must
be my old and intimate friend Rudliche.

* * * * *

"But, to return, in walked Rudliche.--'So, Fred.'--'So, Bob.'--'Were you
at the Grecian to-day?'--'I just stepped in.'--'Well, any news?'--'No,
no, there was no news.' Now, as Bob and I saw one another almost every
day, we seldom abounded in conversation; so, having settled one material
point, he sat in his usual posture, looking at the fire and beating the
dust out of his wooden leg, when I perceived he was going to touch upon
_the_ other subject; but, having by chance cast his eye on my face,
and finding (I suppose) something extraordinary in my countenance, he
immediately dropped all concern for the weather, and putting his hand
into his pocket, (as if he meant to find what he was going to say, under
pretence of feeling for his tobacco-box,) 'Hernan! (he began) why, man,
you look for all the world as if you had been thinking of something.'--
'Yes,' replied I, smiling, (that is, not actually smiling, but with a
conscious something in my face,) 'I have, indeed, been thinking a
little.'--'What, is't a secret?'--'Oh, nothing very material.' Here
ensued a pause, which I employed in considering whether I should reveal
my scheme to Bob; and Bob in trying to disengage his thumb from the
string of his cane, as if he were preparing to take his leave. This