"You're right, Ben; it must be a long time back. But why don't you put out a few letters for yourself?"
"I wish I could get a dollar a ton for all I have written for you," said I; "then I'd have a fortune and all the girls would be chasing me for my money."
"Say, was it as bad as that, do you think?"
"Well, cut the price in two and I'd be satisfied."
"What a fool I was, Ben, to let you trifle with my fair friends in that way! You came near putting me in a terrible hole several times."
"Is that so? You never said anything about it. Tell me now."
"Not for a mansion and forty servants would I tell you. Well, I should say not. Nay! Nay!"
"I'll bet you profited by my efforts and you're not willing to let on. Do you think that is a friendly attitude to take toward an agent who has increased the range of your powers of fascination?"
"You came near increasing the length of my neck by several inches. Why, the fathers and big brothers of some of those girls you wrote to came near lynching me."
"Well, I wasn't to blame for that, was I?"