reply to Harper. Nothing, however, seemed to interfere with the pursuits
of this indefatigable trader, who, with a view to dispose of certain
articles for which he could only find purchasers in the very wealthiest
families of the county, had now braved the fury of the tempest, and
ventured to cross the half mile between his own residence and the house
of Mr. Wharton.

In a few minutes after receiving the commands of his young mistress,
Caesar reappeared, ushering into the apartment the subject of the
foregoing digression. In person, the peddler was a man above the middle
height, spare, but full of bone and muscle. At first sight, his strength
seemed unequal to manage the unwieldy burden of his pack; yet he threw
it on and off with great dexterity, and with as much apparent ease as if
it had been filled with feathers. His eyes were gray, sunken, restless,
and, for the flitting moments that they dwelt on the countenance of
those with whom he conversed, they seemed to read the very soul. They
possessed, however, two distinct expressions, which, in a great measure,
characterized the whole man. When engaged in traffic, the intelligence
of his face appeared lively, active, and flexible, though uncommonly
acute; if the conversation turned on the ordinary transactions of life,
his air became abstracted and restless; but if, by chance, the
Revolution and the country were the topic, his whole system seemed
altered--all his faculties were concentrated: he would listen for a
great length of time, without speaking, and then would break silence by
some light and jocular remark, that was too much at variance with his
former manner, not to be affectation. But of the war, and of his father,
he seldom spoke and always from some very obvious necessity.

To a superficial observer, avarice would seem his ruling passion--and,
all things considered, he was as unfit a subject for the plans of Katy