The Little Gentleman continued to fail, until it became plain that his remaining days were few.  I told the household what to expect.  There was a good deal of kind feeling expressed among the boarders, in various modes, according to their characters and style of sympathy.  The landlady was urgent that he should try a certain nostrum which had saved somebody’s life in jest sech a case.  The Poor Relation wanted me to carry, as from her, a copy of “Allein’s Alarm,” etc.  I objected to the title, reminding her that it offended people of old, so that more than twice as many of the book were sold when they changed the name to “A Sure Guide to Heaven.”  The good old gentleman whom I have mentioned before has come to the time of life when many old men cry easily, and forget their tears as children do.—­He was a worthy gentleman,—­he said,—­a very worthy gentleman, but unfortunate,—­very unfortunate.  Sadly deformed about the spine and the feet.  Had an impression that the late Lord Byron had some malformation of this kind.  Had heerd there was something the matter with the ankle-j’ints of that nobleman, but he was a man of talents.  This gentleman seemed to be a man of talents.  Could not always agree with his statements,—­thought he was a little over-partial to this city, and had some free opinions; but was sorry to lose him,—­and if—­there was anything—­he—­could—.  In the midst of these kind expressions, the gentleman with the diamond, the Koh-i-noor, as we called him, asked, in a very unpleasant sort of way, how the old boy was likely to cut up,—­meaning what money our friend was going to leave behind.

The young fellow John spoke up, to the effect that this was a diabolish snobby question, when a man was dying and not dead.—­To this the Koh-i-noor replied, by asking if the other meant to insult him.  Whereto the young man John rejoined that he had no particul’r intentions one way or t’other.-The Kohi-noor then suggested the young man’s stepping out into the yard, that he, the speaker, might “slap his chops.”—­Let ’em alone, said young Maryland,—­it ’ll soon be over, and they won’t hurt each other much.—­So they went out.

The Koh-i-noor entertained the very common idea, that, when one quarrels with another, the simple thing to do is to knock the man down, and there is the end of it.  Now those who have watched such encounters are aware of two things:  first, that it is not so easy to knock a man down as it is to talk about it; secondly, that, if you do happen to knock a man down, there is a very good chance that he will be angry, and get up and give you a thrashing.