The old man stood up when my uncle entered, and his face, that had been dull and stupid before the justice of the peace, was now keen and bright.
"Monsieur does me an honor," he said. The words were an interrogation with no welcome in them.
"No honor," replied my uncle, standing with his hat on; "but possibly a service."
"That would be strange," the mountebank said dryly, "for I have received no service from any man here."
"You have a short memory," replied Abner; "the justice of the peace rendered you a great service on this day. Do you put no value on your life?"
"My life has not been in danger, monsieur," he said.
"I think it has," replied Abner.
"Then monsieur questions the decision?"
"No," said Abner; "I think it was the very wisest decision that Randolph ever made."
"Then why does monsieur say that my life was in danger?"
"Well," replied my uncle, "are not the lives of all men in danger? Is there any day or hour of a day in which they are secure, or any tract or parcel of this earth where danger is not? And can a man say when he awakes at daylight in his bed, on this day I shall go into danger, or I shall not? In the light it is, and in the darkness it is, and where one looks to find it, and where he does not. Did Black-
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