'But I see
you are engaged.'
"'Me,' said she, 'I assure you, Sir, I know people used to say so,
afore General Peleg Smith went to Texas.'
"'What that scallawag,' said I. 'Why, that fellow ought to be kicked
out of all refined society. How could you associate with a man who had
no more decency than to expect folks to call him by name!'
"'How?' said she.
"'Why,' sais I, 'what delicate-minded woman could ever bring herself
to say Pe-leg. If he had called himself Hujacious Smith, or
Larger-limb Smith, or something of that kind, it would have done, but
Peleg is downright ondecent. I had to leave Boston wunst a whole
winter, for making a mistake of that kind. I met Miss Sperm one day
from Nantucket, and says I, 'Did you see me yesterday, with those two
elegant galls from Albany?'
"'No,' said she, 'I didn't.'
"'Strange, too,' said I, 'for I was most sure I caught a glimpse of
you, on the other side of the street, and I wanted to introduce you to
them, but warn't quite sartain it was you. My,' sais I, 'didn't you
see a very unfashionable dressed man' (and I looked down at my Paris
boots, as if I was doing modest), 'with two angeliferous females? Why,
I had a leg on each arm.'
"She fairly screamed out at that expression, rushed into a milliner's
shop, and cried like a gardner's watering-pot. The names she called me
ain't no matter. They were the two Miss Legges of Albany, and cut a
tall swarth, I tell you, for they say they are descended from a
govenor of Nova Scotia, when good men, according to their tell, could
be found for govenors, and that their relations in England are some
pumpkins, too.
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