With an air of surprise
did Graspum hesitate for a moment, and then, with a measured smile,
said, "Why, Lord bless you! it would be a dishonour for a man of my
celebrity in business to let a day escape without a sale; within the
last ten days I have sold a thousand people, or more,--provided you
throw in the old ones!" Here he again frisked his fingers, and
leaned back in his chair, as his face resumed an air of
satisfaction. The stranger interrupted as the man-seller was about
to enquire the number and texture of the people he desired.
"Graspum," said he, with significant firmness, setting his eyes upon
him with intense stare,--"I want neither your men, nor your women,
nor your little children; but, have you a record of souls you have
sunk in the bitterness of slavery in that box"-here the stranger
paused, and pointed at the box on the table-"keep it until you knock
for admittance at the gates of eternity." It was not until this
moment that he could bring his mind, which had been absorbed in the
mysteries of man-selling, to regard the stranger in any other light
than that of a customer. "Pardon me, sir!" said he, somewhat
nervously, "but you speak with great familiarity." The stranger
would not be considered intrusive. "Then you have forgotten me,
Graspum?" exclaimed the man, with an ominous laugh. As if deeply
offended at such familiarity, the man-seller shook his head
rebukingly, and replied by saying he had an advantage of him not
comprehensible.
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