“I do not anticipate needing the services of the ferryman for a good while yet, and my heirs, I apprehend, will have a long wait for their inheritance,” snapped Mr. Romaine, who was always put in a bad humor by any allusion to his age. Colonel Corbin, though, could not stand Mr. Romaine’s hasty allusion to his heirs, and without saying a word, turned away, and with a portentous frown began to stare out of the window.
Mr. Romaine, after a moment or two, cooled down and proceeded to make amends in his own peculiar fashion for his remark.
“Excuse me, Corbin, but you are so devilish persistent on the subject of my age that I inadvertently used an illustration I should not have done had I reflected for one instant whom I was addressing. But I take it that no gentleman will hold another accountable for a few words said in heat and under provocation. Remember, ‘an affront handsomely acknowledged becomes an obligation.’”
“Your acknowledgment, sir, was not what I should call a handsome one.”
“Hang it, Corbin, we can’t quarrel. Here I am in trouble, and I have come to you, as to my friend of forty years, to help me out.”
It was always hard for the Colonel to maintain his anger, and Mr. Romaine, when he said this, put on one of his characteristic appealing looks, and spoke in his sweetest voice, and the Colonel could not help relaxing a little.
“I think you understand, Romaine, the attitude I feel compelled to assume toward you; but—but—if you are really in unpleasant circumstances—”
“Deuced unpleasant, I assure you. I’ve had a man for sixteen years—never knew him to make a mistake, to be off duty when required, or to have any serious fault—and now he swears he can’t stand Virginia any longer, and intends leaving me in the lurch. I can’t stand Virginia much longer myself, but I don’t want the villain to know that his loss is actually driving me back to England before my time. But the case is this—I can’t shave myself. Does that black fellow of yours, David, shave you?”
“I always shave myself—but David understands the art of shaving, and has practised it on guests upon various occasions, with much success.”
“I wish you would send him over to Shrewsbury to-morrow. If I can’t get a man by the time Bridge leaves—which will be next week—I might ride over here every day, and, with your permission, make use of David’s services until I can get a capable white man.”