XVI. LEAVE-TAKINGS
A few days after the tragic passage-at-arms between Hollingsworth and
me, I appeared at the dinner-table actually dressed in a coat,
instead of my customary blouse; with a satin cravat, too, a white
vest, and several other things that made me seem strange and
outlandish to myself. As for my companions, this unwonted spectacle
caused a great stir upon the wooden benches that bordered either side
of our homely board.
"What's in the wind now, Miles?" asked one of them. "Are you
deserting us?"
"Yes, for a week or two," said I. "It strikes me that my health
demands a little relaxation of labor, and a short visit to the
seaside, during the dog-days."
"You look like it!" grumbled Silas Foster, not greatly pleased with
the idea of losing an efficient laborer before the stress of the
season was well over. "Now, here's a pretty fellow! His shoulders
have broadened a matter of six inches since he came among us; he can
do his day's work, if he likes, with any man or ox on the farm; and
yet he talks about going to the seashore for his health! Well, well,
old woman," added he to his wife, "let me have a plateful of that
pork and cabbage! I begin to feel in a very weakly way. When the
others have had their turn, you and I will take a jaunt to Newport or
Saratoga!"
"Well, but, Mr. Foster," said I, "you must allow me to take a little
breath."
"Breath!" retorted the old yeoman. "Your lungs have the play of a
pair of blacksmith's bellows already.
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