Now, who will become purchaser? Every body wondered who would become the next customer.
"I will, by George!" says Smith. And Smith did; he had worked long and faithfully, and he had saved something. Smith bought out the whole concern, and once more he was landlord of the "General Washington."
Absalom was cut down, like a hollyhock in November—he was dead broke, and felt, in his present situation, flat, stale, and unprofitable enough.
"Mr. Smith," said Absalom, the day after the collapse, "I am once more on my oars."
"Yes, Ab, so it seems; it's a queer world, sometimes we are up, and sometimes we are down. Time, Ab, works wonders, as you once very forcibly remarked."
"It does, indeed, sir."
"We have only to keep up our spirits, Ab, go ahead; the world is large, if it is full of changes."
"True, sir, very true. I was about to remark, Mr. Smith—"
"Well, Ab."
"That we have known one another—"