"Well, I should smile," replied Sam. This expression he had heard the
last time he was in the city, and he derived great pleasure from its
repetition.
"How's Tilly?" asked Bob Wood.
"Able to be up and have her bed made."
All laughed at the rejoinder. Smiles and laughter are easily evoked
in a village grocery.
Mr. Obadiah Strout and Mr. Hiram Maxwell, general partners, were in
the private office, a small room adjoining the post-office. Mr.
Strout was smoking a cigar and reading a letter between the puffs.
Hiram, with his chair tilted back against the wall, was smoking his
after-supper pipe, for it was after seven o'clock in the evening.
"Mr. Maxwell," said Obadiah, laying down the letter he had been
reading, "this is from the trustees of the estate of the Honourable
Quincy Adams Sawyer, formerly our special partner, and the ex-
Governor of this Commonwealth. I mention the fact of him being our
former special partner first, before I said anything about his
political elevation, for I don't believe, Mr. Maxwell, that he would
ever have been Governor if he hadn't jined in with us."
Mr. Strout always called Hiram "Mr. Maxwell," when they talked over
business affairs.
Hiram blew a cloud from his pipe. "Wall, I guess they're putty well
satisfied with what we've been doin', ain't they?"
Mr. Strout leaned back in his chair with a self-satisfied look on his
face.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162