"Toothache drops! Bosh! It comes from drinking whisky."
"Well, there's no use disputin' 'bout it; but if it's whisky, I'm all right, an'll git over it, for I'm goin' to cut myself down, an' that I've made up my mind to."
"Why don't you stop altogether?" Uncle Job asked.
"I can't, Job; I'd rather fall ninety-nine times than resist oncet. That's the way I'm built, you see, an' it's no use tryin'."
"Nonsense! You can stop if you want to."
"That's what people say; but if you had the thirst in the throat an' hot cravin' an' crawlin' in the stomach that I have, when the malary's comin' on an' the sky's red, an' you dasn't put out the light, nor shut your eyes for seein' things at night, you'd not give it up. Nor'll I, but I'm goin' to be more moderate-like." And ceasing to speak, he reached out as if to pick some object from Uncle Job's coat, but finding nothing, looked up abashed, and without saying more, turned and walked away.
Thus reassured in some measure in regard to Blott's purpose, we went on to the saloon of the majestic vessel. Here again I live in the memory of the past and what I saw, but not without a sob filling the throat, that it should all have proven so unreal. For it is not what we see as children, but the newness and strangeness of it, that causes our hearts to beat and our eyes to open with wonder. Never afterward, and that is the pity of it, does the splendor of real things cause the pulse to throb as do the small things of youth. For the vast apartment on the threshold of which I now stood seemed to my inexperienced eyes grand beyond the power of speech. Nor was it cut off in its limits, but reached away in perspective like the lengthened glade of a forest—a forest wherein overhanging clouds were frescoed with golden filigree and glistening silver, from which descended, as if held by outstretched arms, row upon row of glistening chandeliers, resplendent with radiating surfaces and pendent crystals. Such was the view; not cramped or confined, but reaching far away and bathed in light and soft, illusive shadows.
In the center of this vast room, tables succeeded each other as far as the eye could reach, while on either side chairs with gilded backs stretched away like disks of beaten gold. Above these, and from the borders of the ceiling, ferns and wild roses drooped, and beside them windows, half-concealed, gave a soft and glimmering light, as if the day were just beginning. On the sides of the room there were doors without number, of pearly white, inlaid with gold, and on the floor crimson carpets that gave back no sound to the footfall more than the moss one finds in the shadows of the dark woods. Such things I saw, and standing, wondered, and there I would have stayed; but to those about me it was only commonplace, so quickly are our impressions dulled by use. So, with scarce time to catch my breath or give expression to my thoughts, we hurried on to our room—and oh, its snugness and compactness! A playhouse fit for children indeed, but for bigger animals all too small!
When we emerged the great hall was full of the bustle and stir of supper, but of this last I remember only a little. For my mind was busy with other thoughts—with Wild Plum, my mother, Constance, the forlorn highwayman, the weazen-faced lawyer. This so fully that I scarce noticed the eager throng that laughed and chatted by my side. When supper was over, Uncle Job went forward to smoke, and I being alone, set out to explore the great palace, so calm and steadfast, yet pulsating as with the breath of life. This last in greater semblance of reality because of the far-off sound of the exhaust, so like a man breathing heavily in his sleep. Curious and loitering by the way, I after a while approached a part of the saloon set off by a great screen. This division I for a time respected, but presently reaching the barrier, and being curious, passed beyond. A group of ladies occupied the space thus set apart, and seeing this, I stopped, and would have turned about.
No sooner, however, did I come into view than one of them of gentle presence, detached herself from those about her and came toward me. Reaching the spot where I stood, to my great amazement, she clapped down on me as my mother was wont to do. Folding me in close embrace against her bosom, she kissed me as if I were her son, saying with tender emotion: