Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

There was a pause after Lesponts ended, and then one of the fellows rang the bell and said, “Let’s drink the old Captain’s health,” which was unanimously agreed to. Newton walked over to a table and wrote a note, and then slipped out of the club; and when next day I inquired after him of the boy at the door, he said he had left word to tell anyone who asked for him, that he would not be back till after Christmas; that he had gone home to Virginia. Several of the other fellows went off home too, myself among them, and I was glad I did, for I heard one of the men say he never knew the club so deserted as it was that Christmas-day.

LITTLE DARBY