'How is ye, stranger? Hev a eye-opener?'
'I reckon not, old fellow; but I ought to know you. Your name is Tom.'
'Thomas, stranger; but Tom, fur short.'
'Well, Thomas, I thought you had taken your last drink. I saw your store was closed, as I came along.'
'Yas; th' durned 'ristocrats driv me out uv thet nigh a yar ago.'
'And where are you now?'
'Up ter Trenton. I'm doin' right smart thar. Me an' Mulock—thet used ter b'long yere—is in partenship. But war moight ye hev seed me, stranger?'
'At your store, over ten years since. I bought a woman there. You were having a turkey match at the time.'
'Oh, yas! I 'call ye now. An' th' pore gal's dead! Thet d—d Yankee 'ooman shud pull hemp fur thet.'
'Yes; but the devil seldom gets his due in this world.'