'No,' said I, 'but, as I soon leave Tyre, I shan't need it.'
The landlord looked at my dirty collar and bosom as if he doubted either
my sanity or my decency, and remarked that perhaps I knew his rules
compelled him to present the bills of strangers semi-weekly.
'O, yes! that's all right,' said I; 'I'll see you when I come back from
the printing-office.'
I noticed that mine host stood watching to see that I entered the
printing-office safely.
The editor remarked, after I had told him all the experience narrated
here, commencing with the washing-machines,--
'It's a bad case, and I don't admire your experience at all, to speak
candidly; but I have a little idea of my own to work out, and you can
help me do it, perhaps. In the first place, though, I want to know
whether you intend to continue in this line of business,--eh?'
'Not I,' was my fervent reply; 'I'm satisfied to leave lecturing to
those who have a reputation, and to earn my bread and butter in a, for
me, more legitimate way. But what is it you have in view?'
'Come and see me this evening, when I am at leisure, and I'll tell you
what my enterprise is. Meantime, will you sell me your lecture? I can't
afford to pay much for it, but I'll agree to settle your hotel bill if
you'll part with it.
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