He then thrust up his spectacles over his forehead
and appeared to take a critical survey of the saloon.
"Never within my recollection," observed he, "have I entered a more
spacious and noble hall. But are you sure that it is built of solid
materials and that the structure will be permanent?"
"O, never fear, my venerable friend," replied the host. "In
reference to a lifetime like your own, it is true my castle may well
be called a temporary edifice. But it will endure long enough to
answer all the purposes for which it was erected."
But we forget that the reader has not yet been made acquainted with
the guest. It was no other than that universally accredited
character so constantly referred to in all seasons of intense cold
or heat; he that, remembers the hot Sunday and the cold Friday; the
witness of a past age whose negative reminiscences find their way
into every newspaper, yet whose antiquated and dusky abode is so
overshadowed by accumulated years and crowded back by modern
edifices that none but the Man of Fancy could have discovered it;
it was, in short, that twin brother of Time, and great-grandsire of
mankind, and hand-and-glove associate of all forgotten men and
things,--the Oldest Inhabitant. The host would willingly have drawn
him into conversation, but succeeded only in eliciting a few remarks
as to the oppressive atmosphere of this present summer evening
compared with one which the guest had experienced about fourscore
years ago.
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