"
"It's not usual for us to the eastward, to give names to farms and
places. It is done a little by the Boston folk, but they are notional,
as everybody knows."
"Exactly; I suppose it was for want of use, the chap I mean made out
no better in naming his place."
Mr. Brigham was no fool; he was merely a gossip. He took the hint, and
asked no more questions of Marble. He tried Neb, notwithstanding; but
the black having his orders, obeyed them so literally, that I really
believe we parted in Bordeaux, a fortnight later, without any of the
family's making the least discovery. Glad enough was I to get rid of
them; yet, brief as had been our intercourse, they produced a sensible
influence on my future happiness. Such is the evil of this habit of
loose talking, men giving credit to words conceived in ignorance and
uttered in the indulgence of one of the most contemptible of all our
propensities. To return to my ship.
We reached Bordeaux without any further accident, or delay. I
discharged in the usual way, and began to look about me, for another
freight. It had been my intention to return to New York, and to keep
the festivities of attaining my majority, at Clawbonny; but, I confess
the discourse of these eternal gossips, the Brighams, had greatly
lessened the desire to see home again, so soon.
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