not upon the instant what reply to make. "Friend," said he, at
last, "I thank thee extremely for thy offer, and, though I would
not be ungracious, it is yet borne in upon me to testify to thee
that as to the stone itself and the fortune--of which thou
speakest, and of which I very well know the history--I have no
inclination to receive either the one or the other, both the
fruits of theft, rapine, and murder. The jewel I have myself
beheld three times stained, as it were, with the blood of my
fellow-man, so that it now has so little value in my sight that I
would not give a peppercorn to possess it. Indeed, there is no
inducement in the world that could persuade me to accept it, or
even to take it again into my hand. As to the rest of thy
generous offer, I have only to say that I am, four months hence,
to be married to a very comely young woman of Kensington, in
Pennsylvania, by name Martha Dobbs, and therefore I am not at all
at liberty to consider my inclinations in any other direction."

Having so delivered himself, Jonathan bowed with such ease as his
stiff and awkward joints might command, and thereupon withdrew
from the presence of the charmer, who, with cheeks suffused with
blushes and with eyes averted, made no endeavor to detain him.

So ended the only adventure of moment that ever happened to him
in all his life. For thereafter he contented himself with such
excitement as his mercantile profession and his extremely
peaceful existence might afford.