He is one
of the most innocent and confiding men in the world. He is honest, and he
believes that everybody else is honest.
He came up to the depot with his basket, and seeing the train he asked
Pierce, the landlord there, what train it was. Pierce, who is a most
diabolical person, told the old gentleman that it was a load of members of
the legislature and female lobbyists going to Madison. With that beautiful
confidence which the pop corn man has in all persons, he believed the
story, and went into the car to sell pop corn.
Stopping at the first seat, where a middle-aged lady was sitting alone,
the pop corn man passed out his basket and said, "fresh pop corn." The
lady took her foot down off the stove, looked at the man a moment with
eyes glaring and wild, and said, "It is--no, it cannot be--and yet it _is_
me long lost Duke of Oshkosh," and she grabbed the old man by the necktie
with one hand and pulled him down into the seat, and began to mow away
corn into her mouth. The pop corn man blushed, looked at the rest of the
passengers to see if they were looking, and said, as he replaced the
necktie knot from under his left ear and pushed his collar down, "Madame,
you are mistaken. I never have been a duke in Oshkosh. I live here at the
Junction." The woman looked at him as though she doubted his statement,
but let him go.
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