"The governor smiled approvingly, and looked at my grandfather.
"'My friend,' said he to the manager, 'I beg your pardon, I forgot.'
"The next day, my grandfather was seen promenading in full ball dress
along the streets of the little town.
"'They ought to know,' said he, 'that I have a proper coat, and that
not contempt, nor poverty, but forgetfulness, sent me to a ball in my
dressing-gown.'
"He did not much frequent social festivals after this failure, but he
always told the story with satisfaction and a quiet smile.
"To a stranger, life upon those little islands is uniform even to
weariness. But the old native dons, like my grandfather, ripen in the
prolonged sunshine, like the turtle upon the Bahama banks, nor know of
existence more desirable. Life in the tropics, I take to be a placid
torpidity.
"During the long, warm mornings of nearly half a century, my
grandfather Titbottom had sat in his dressing-gown, and gazed at the
sea. But one calm June day, as he slowly paced the piazza after
breakfast, his dreamy glance was arrested by a little vessel,
evidently nearing the shore.
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