, and yet so delicately
expressed, that Martin felt really grateful to him, and showed him so, in the
manner of his reply.
    »I will not ask you,« said this gentleman with a smile, as he rose and moved
towards him, »how you like my country, for I can quite anticipate your feeling
on that point. But, as I am an American, and consequently bound to begin with a
question, I'll ask you how you like the colonel?«
    »You are so very frank,« returned Martin, »that I have no hesitation in
saying I don't like him at all. Though I must add that I am beholden to him for
his civility in bringing me here - and arranging for my stay, on pretty
reasonable terms, by the way,« he added: remembering that the colonel had
whispered him to that effect, before going out.
    »Not much beholden,« said the stranger drily. »The colonel occasionally
boards packet-ship, I have heard, to glean the latest information for his
journal; and he occasionally brings strangers to board here, I believe, with a
view to the little percentage which attaches to those good offices; and which
the hostess deducts from his weekly bill. I don't offend you, I hope?« he added,
seeing that Martin reddened.
    »My dear sir,« returned Martin, as they shook hands, »how is that possible!
to tell you the truth, I - am -«
    »Yes?« said the gentleman, sitting down beside him.
    »I am rather at a loss, since I must speak plainly,« said Martin, getting
the better of his hesitation, »to know how this colonel escapes being beaten.«
    »Well! He has been beaten once or twice,« remarked the gentleman quietly.
»He is one of a class of men, in whom our own Franklin so long ago as ten years
before the close of the last century, foresaw our danger and disgrace. Perhaps
you don't know that Franklin, in very severe terms, published his opinion that
those who were slandered by such fellows as this colonel, having no sufficient
remedy in the administration of this country's laws or in the decent and
right-minded feeling of its people, were justified in retorting on such public
nuisances by means of a stout cudgel?«
    »I was not aware of that,« said Martin, »but I am very glad to know it, and
I think it worthy of his memory; especially
