"My embrace is the tenderer of the two," the latter laughed with a look at his hands.
He recognized me and seized my two hands and shook them as he said:
"Upon my word, here is my friend Bart. I was not looking for you here."
He put his hand on my head, now higher than his shoulder, and said: "I was not looking for you here."
He moved his hand down some inches and added: "I was looking for you down there. You can't tell where you'll find these youngsters if you leave them a while."
"We are all forever moving," said the schoolmaster. "No man is ever two days in the same altitude unless he's a Whig."
"Or a born fool," the Senator laughed with a subtlety which I did not then appreciate.
He asked about my aunt and uncle and expressed joy at learning that I was now under Mr. Hacket.
"I shall be here for a number of weeks," he said, "and I shall want to see you often. Maybe we'll go hunting some Saturday."
We bade him good morning and he went on with his wheelbarrow, which was loaded, I remember, with stout sacks of meal and flour.