"
Oh, how them homespun words, coarse as they were, cheered my drooping
spirits, and the real Connecticut nasal twang with which they were
uttered sounded like music to my ears; how it brought up home and
far-off friends to my mind, and how it sent up a tear of mingled joy
and sadness to my eye.
Peter was delighted. He slapped me on the back with a hearty good
will, in a way nearly to deprive me of my breath, welcomed me anew,
and invited us all to stay with him while the vessel remained there.
Jessie replied in Gaelic, but so rapidly I could only follow her with
great difficulty, for I had but a smattering of it, though I
understood it better than I could speak it, having acquired it in a
very singular manner, as I will tell you by and by. Offering her a
chair, she took it and sat down after some hesitation, as if it was
not her usual habit to associate with her father's visitors, and we
were soon on very sociable terms. I asked the name of the trading post
in the north-west where they had resided, and delighted her by
informing her I had once been there myself on business of John Jacob
Astor's New York Fur Company, and staid with the Governor, who was the
friend and patron of her father's. This was sufficient to establish us
at once on something like the footing of old friends. When she
withdrew, Peter followed her out, probably to give some directions for
our evening meal.
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