“And I,” I cried, seizing him by the hand, “highly as I feel flattered by such a declaration, would willingly make such an exchange, if it were possible to do so.”
“We shall find it very possible,” replied the stranger. “Come, let us take a glass to our better acquaintance. I am charmed to have it in my power to confer an obligation upon a gentleman like yourself, especially when it meets so exactly with my own inclinations.”
“Egad,” said I, as we hob-nobbed very cordially together, “I am agreed to make the exchange directly.”
I had no sooner said the word than I felt a most violent blow at the back of my head. On my recovery, for it almost stunned me, I was stupefied with astonishment, upon looking up, to behold myself sitting at my ease, and smoking with great insouciance, upon the very seat which I had previously occupied in propria persona.
“Be so good, worthy sir,” said I, or the figure I saw seated in my-arm chair, “to look in yonder glass, and you will discover that your wishes have been complied with.”
I stepped to the cheval, and to my unspeakable amazement and joy, viewed in the reflection the person of the elegant gentleman with whom I had exchanged exteriors.
“I hope,” said the personage who rejoiced in my original ugliness and odious garments, “that this exchange is entirely to your satisfaction?”
I could have hugged him, for I was almost beside myself with delight.
“How can I thank you for your kindness,” I exclaimed, for my old attire looked doubly ridiculous to my new optics. “I do assure you, sir, that I am forever at your service.”
“That’s it,” said the gentleman with a peculiar smile, which in the plenitude of my joy I did not notice at the time, although I recollected it afterward perfectly well. “And now, as it grows late, I will bid you good evening.”