"All right," said the
landlord, and he gave me my supper and a room. The next noon my
friend, the conductor, came and when I first spoke to him he did not
recognize me; I told him who I was, but to ask me no questions as to
how I came to appear in those old clothes, and to be so poor; I
wanted to borrow five dollars, and to go with him to Meredith
Bridge. He greeted me very cordially, handed me a ten-dollar
Bill--twice as much as I asked for--said he was not going to the
Bridge till next day, and told me meanwhile, to go to the hotel and
make myself comfortable.
I went back to the hotel, paid my bill, stayed there that day and
night, and the next morning "deadheaded," with my friend the
conductor to Meredith Bridge. Everybody knew me there. The
hotel-keeper made me welcome to his house, and said I could stay as
long as I liked.
"Say, dew ye ever cure anybody, Doctor?" asked my old friend, the
landlord, and he laughed and nudged me in the ribs, and asked me to
take some of his medicine from the bar, which I immediately did.
I was at home now. But the object of my visit was to see if I could
not collect some of my old bills in that neighborhood, amounting in
the aggregate to several hundred dollars. They were indeed old bills
of five or six years' standing, and I had very little hope of
collecting much money. I went first to Lake Village, and called on
Mr. John Blaisdell, the husband of the woman whom I had cured of the
dropsy, in accordance, as she believed at the time, with her
prophetic dream.
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