"You shall play for me, Ned," he remarked; "you shall give me that
old highland-reel that you learned from Scotch Geordie. It will
put me out of my bad humor, I think, and we can go to bed quietly.
I've come to sleep with you to-night."
"You're a good fellow, Bill; I knew that you couldn't stand it
long, if Sweet Sall kept a still tongue in her head. That reel's
the very thing to drive away bad humors, though there's another
that I learnt from John Blodget, the boat-man, that sounds to me
the merriest and comicalest thing in the world. It goes--," and here
the fiddle was put in requisition to produce the required sounds:
and having got carte blanche, our enthusiastic performer, without
weariness, went through his whole collection, without once perceiving
that his comical and merry tunes had entirely failed to change the
grave, and even gloomy expression which still mantled the face of
his companion. It was only when in his exhaustion he set down the
instrument, that he became conscious of William Hinkley's continued
discomposure.
"Why, Bill, the trouble has given you a bigger bite than I thought
for.
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