"I was born here," he replied.
"Ah! Then you know all the people, I imagine?"
"I know all their faces, at least."
"And their histories and characters?"
"Perhaps."
Something in this "perhaps," and the tone in which it was uttered,
seemed not to strike the questioner agreeably. He bent his brows a
little, and looked more narrowly at the landlord.
"I did not see much of your town as I came in this evening. How
large is it?"
"Middling good size, sir, for an inland town," was the not very
satisfactory answer.
"What is the population?"
"Well, I don't know--can't just say to a certainty."
"Two thousand?"
"Laws! no sir! Not over one, if that."
"About a thousand, then?"
"Maybe a thousand, and maybe not more than six or seven hundred."
"Call it seven hundred, then," said the traveler, evidently a little
amused.
"And that will, in my view, be calling it enough."
There was a pause. The traveler seemed in doubt as to whether he
should go on with his queries.
"Not much trade here, I presume?" He asked, at length.
"Not much to boast of," said Adams.
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