"I am not defending him, but simply gave words to my thoughts."
"And you believe trouble will come to those who put that up?"
"I said not so, yet I believe it will be well if those who have thus advised Master Lillie keep the fact that they were concerned in the work a secret. Who is that now coming from the house?"
"Ebenezer Richardson, the informer, and Amos's uncle. Surely you should know him."
"I never saw him before, but have heard much of his doings."
"And so have others," Hardy replied, in a significant tone. "If he is wise he will stay in the house this day, for there yet remains in the city of Boston plenty of tar and feathers."
"And you think he may get a new coat?"
"It won't be long coming," the barber's apprentice replied, in a meaning tone, as if his especial mission in life was to correct the shortcomings of others. "Now that this work has been begun by the boys of Boston, it will be continued by them."
"You said that this Richardson is a relative of our friend Amos?"
"An uncle, but Amos has cast him off long since," and Hardy's assumption of importance was almost comical. "He is reading the names now; perhaps thinks he is called upon to protect Master Lillie. As I said before, he had best remain hidden from view. How Amos would rage if he could see his uncle at this moment!"