He returned in due time, and sat down to supper Aunt Deborah had provided her best, and, though the dishes were plain, they were quite palatable.
When supper was over, the young man said,—
"Now, aunt, I think I will be getting back to the hotel."
"You'll come over in the morning, Ferdinand, and fetch your trunk?"
"Yes, aunt. Good-night."
"Good-night."
"Well," thought the young man, as he tramped back to the hotel. "I've opened the campaign, and made, I believe, a favorable impression. But what a pack of lies I have had to tell, to be sure! The old lady came near catching me once or twice, particularly about the color of my hair. It was a lucky thought, that about the French barber. It deceived the poor old soul. I don't think she could ever have been very handsome. If she was she must have changed fearfully."
In the evening, John Clapp and Luke Harrison came round to the hotel to see him.
"Have you been to see your aunt?" asked Clapp.
"Yes, I took tea there."