"Yes, sir," she responded, stiffly, and eyeing Lowndes with considerable diffidence. "Any business with me, sir?"
"Yes, madam," responded the General, "I—a—purpose remaining in the city some time, and—a—I shall be pleased to put up with you."
"That's impossible, sir," was the ready and decisive reply. "My house is full; I cannot accommodate you."
"Well, really, that will be a disappointment, indeed," said the General, "for I'm quite a stranger in the city, and may find it difficult to procure permanent lodgings."
"I presume not, sir," said she; "there are taverns enough, where strangers are entertained."
The gentlemen around the fire, never offered to tender the stranger any information upon the subject, but several eyed him very hard, and doubtless felt pleased to see the discomfitted and ill-accoutred traveller seize his baggage, adjust his dusty coat, and start out, which he was evidently very loth to do.
Just as Lowndes had reached the parlor door, it occurred to him that Pinckney had recommended him to "put up" at the widow's, and also had given him a letter of introduction to Mrs. Hall. This reminiscence caused the General to retrace his steps back into the parlor, where, placing his portmanteau on the table, he applied the key and opened it, and began fumbling around for his letters, to the no small wonder of the landlady and her respectable boarders.
"I have here, I believe, madam, a letter for you," blandly said the General, still overhauling his baggage.
"A letter for me, sir?" responded the lady.
"Yes, madam, from an old friend of yours, who recommended me to stop with you. Ah, here it is, from your friend General Pinckney, of South Carolina."