Before
retiring, he goes to B------'s bedside, and, if he finds him awake,
stands talking French, expressing his dislike of the Americans, "Je hais,
je hais les Yankees!"--thus giving vent to the stifled bitterness of the
whole day. In the morning I hear him getting up early, at sunrise or
before, humming to himself, scuffling about his chamber with his thick
boots, and at last taking his departure for a solitary ramble till
breakfast. Then he comes in, cheerful and vivacious enough, eats pretty
heartily, and is off again, singing French chansons as he goes down the
gravel-walk. The poor fellow has nobody to sympathize with him but
B------, and thus a singular connection is established between two
utterly different characters.
Then here is myself, who am likewise a queer character in my way, and
have come to spend a week or two with my friend of half a lifetime,--the
longest space, probably, that we are ever destined to spend together; for
Fate seems preparing changes for both of us. My circumstances, at least,
cannot long continue as they are and have been; and B------, too, stands
between high prosperity and utter ruin.
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