"'Why, at--'
"She was caught there; she was a goin' to say, 'at marryin' you,' but
as she was a leadin' of me on, that wouldn't do. Doctor, you may catch
a gall sometimes, but if she has a mind to, she can escape if she
chooses, for they are as slippery as eels. So she pretended to
hesitate on, till I asked her again.
"'Why,' sais she, a looking down, 'at sleeping alone tonight, after
hearing of these dreadful catastrophes.'
"'Oh,' sais I, 'is that all?'
"'But how did you lose her?' said she.
"'Why, she raced off,' said I, 'with the Turkish ambassador, and if I
had a got hold of him, I'de a lammed him wuss than the devil beatin'
tan-bark, I know. I'de a had his melt, if there was a bowie-knife out
of Kentucky.'
"'Did you go after her?'
"'Yes; but she cotched it afore I cotched her.'
"'How was that, Sam?'
"'Why, she wanted to sarve him the same way, with an officer of the
Russian Guards, and Mahomet caught her, sewed her up in a sack, and
throwed her neck and crop into the Bosphorus, to fatten eels for the
Greek ladies to keep Lent with.'
"'Why, how could you be so unfortunate?' said she.
"'That's a question I have often axed myself, Liddy,' sais I; 'but I
have come to this conclusion: London and Paris ain't no place for
galls to be trained in.'
"'So I have always said, and always will maintain to my dying day,'
she said, rising with great animation and pride.
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