about Mr. Jervas's puppet-show. I observed, farther, to my infinite
satisfaction, that after this affair of the guinea, he was not so
suspicious of my honesty as he used to appear to be: he now yielded more
to his natural indolence, and suffered me to pack up his things for him,
and to do a hundred little services which formerly he used roughly to
refuse at my hands; saying, 'I had rather do it myself, _sir_,' or, 'I
don't like to have _any_ body meddle with my things, Mr. Jervas.' But
his tone changed, and it was now, 'Jervas, I'll leave you to put up
these things, whilst I go and read;'--or, 'Jervas, will you see that I
leave none of my goods behind me, there's a good lad?'--In truth, he was
rather apt to leave his goods behind him: he was the most absent and
forgetful man alive. During the first half year we travelled together,
whilst he attempted to take care of his own things, I counted that he
lost two pair and a half of slippers, one boot, three night-caps, one
shirt, and fifteen pocket-handkerchiefs. Many of these losses, I make no
doubt, were set down in his imagination to my account whilst he had
no opinion of my honesty; but I am satisfied that he was afterwards
thoroughly convinced of the injustice of his suspicions, as, from the
time that I had the charge of his _goods_, as he called them, to the day
we parted, including a space of above four years and a half, he never
lost any thing but one red nightcap, which, to the best of my belief, he
sent in his wig one Sunday morning to the barber's, but which never came
back again, and an old ragged blue pocket-handkerchief, which he said he
put under his pillow, or into his boot, when he went to bed at night. He
had an odd way of sticking his pocket-handkerchief into his boot, 'that
he might be sure to find it in the morning.' I suspect the handkerchief
was carried down in the boot when it was taken to be cleaned. He was,
however, perfectly certain that these two losses were not to be imputed
to any carelessness of mine. He often said he was obliged to me for the
attention I paid to his interests; he treated me now very civilly, and