The Bachelors 
else, he said, “‘ Well, Mr. X. ain’t in Alton at all! 
There he sets.’”’ And so the keen hand won his 
guineas; and Mr. Bachelor’s point was proved: 
““A bet well laid is three-parts won.” It was 
reaffirmed with some triumph; and all approved. 
After that he grew more confidential, telling 
Mr. Smith and me, I don’t know why, the 
country remedies for measles, and for a boil 
on the neck. These remedies were so nasty— 
that was the measure of their efficacy—lI couldn’t 
even hint at them here; yet I felt a little proud 
to be received into such a man’s confidence, 
although evidently I owed it all to Mr. Smith. 
It was due to Mr. Smith that I also was accepted 
as a friend who might be trusted not to be offen- 
sively superior. 
But Andrew Bachelor kept his best clothes for 
the market, and his best manners for the market 
inn. I saw him once in his own farm-yard, 
where he was wearing a slate-coloured smock- 
frock, suitable perhaps for a mucky job in a mucky 
place. But the inside of his house I never saw. 
There, it is to be supposed, no comfort was 
admitted. I cannot imagine that the house 
held a carpet, or a table-cloth, or an easy-chair. 
An older brother dwelt there, one Silas Bachelor ; 
and also, for a time, a sister; and those who did 
enter the house spoke afterwards of the extra- 
ordinary gruffness of Andrew’s speech when 
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