“How do you know your dinner will be good?”
“Because I am so ready for it.”
“If you’re so sharp set, I don’t mind letting you have a snack before you go further,” said his employer.
“No, thank you, sir,” replied Cosmo; “I am too self-indulgent to enjoy my food before I have finished my work.”
“Not a bad way of being self-indulgent, that!” said the man. “—But what puzzles me is, that a young fellow with such good principles should be going about the country like—”
“Like a tinker—would you say, sir—or like Abraham of old when he had no abiding city?”
“You seem to know your Bible too!—Come now, there must be some reason for your being adrift like this!”
“Of course there is, sir; and if I were sure you would believe me, I would tell you enough to make you understand it.”
“A cautious Scotchman!”
“Yes. Whatever I told you, you would doubt; therefore I tell you nothing.”