be skating when the young ladies came down, and as they needed
some assistance which they would hardly have accepted from a common
man--excuse my borrowing that tiresome expression from our acquaintance
Smilash--I set their minds at ease by saying that you had sent for me.
Otherwise, as you have given me a bad character--though not worse than
I deserve--they would probably have refused to employ me, or at least I
should have been compelled to accept payment, which I, of course, do not
need."

Miss Wilson affected surprise. "I do not understand you," she said.

"Not altogether," he said smiling. "But you understand that I am what is
called a gentleman."

"No. The gentlemen with whom I am conversant do not dress as you dress,
nor speak as you speak, nor act as you act."

He looked at her, and her countenance confirmed the hostility of her
tone. He instantly relapsed into an aggravated phase of Smilash.

"I will no longer attempt to set myself up as a gentleman," he said. "I
am a common man, and your ladyship's hi recognizes me as such and is not
to be deceived. But don't go for to say that I am not candid when I am
as candid as ever you will let me be. What fault, if any, do you
find with my putting the skates on the young ladies, and carryin' the
campstool for them?"

"If you are a gentleman," said Miss Wilson, reddening, "your conduct in
persisting in these antics in my presence is insulting to me. Extremely
so."