I said I did not suppose they would or could say any such Thing; I being so long known on the Bridge,—and he of his Years——
“Humph!” said he, “I am but forty-four! To hear you talk, one might think I was a—” ... I forget what Sort of an Arian he called himself,—“Do you know what that means, Cherry?”
I said, I believed it was some Sort of a Dissenter. On which he laughed outright; and said it meant sixty or seventy Years of Age, I forget which.
“And I’m not quite such an old Codger as that,” said he, “so I won’t accept your kind Invitation, though I thank you heartily for it. But we must not let our Good be evil spoken of.”
All this was spoken in such a simple, genial, attaching Sort of a Way,—for his Manners were always gentle and well-nurtured,—that it only went to make me like him more and more, and think what a Privilege it was to be thus in hourly Communion with Master Blower.
Parting Time came at last. It was my own Fault if I left not that House a wiser, better, and happier Woman. Dorcas and I saw him start off for Berkshire; and there was a Tear in my Eye, when he took my Hand to bid me Farewell.
“Cherry,” said he, still holding my Hand, and looking at me with great Goodness and Sweetness, “I shall never forget that to you, under Heaven, I owe my Life. And, by the Way, there is Something I have often thought of naming to you, only that it never occurred to me at the proper Time ... a very odd Circumstance.—When I escaped to Holland, and, as some People thought, was in Want of Money, I found seven gold Pieces in the Inside of one of my Slippers! Who could have put them there, do you think? Ah, Cherry!—There! God bless you!”
