"I am a simple-minded, rough-and-ready creature," he often assured his

friends; "a man to worry my tie, and force me to buy a new coat, because

he desires my old one, would drive me mad."

So he undressed himself slowly, reckoning up his gains, smiling at his

mask of a face in the large mirror, and hatching his little plots every

knot he untied, every button he released. At last he got into bed, and

slept as easily and serenely as any simple-minded farmer.




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