"WHERE did you get so much money, Isaac?" said Mrs. Partington, as he
shook a half handful of copper cents before her, grinning all the while
like a rogue that he is; "have you found the hornicopia or has anybody
given you a request?" She was a little anxious. "I got it from bets,"
said he, chucking them into the air, and allowing half of them to
clatter and rattle about the floor with all the importance of dollars.
"Got them from Bets, did you?" replied she; "and who is Bets that she
should give you money?--she must be some low creature, or you would not
speak of her so disrespectably. I hope you will not get led away by any
desolate companions, Isaac, and become an unworthy membrane of society."
How tenderly the iron-bowed spectacles beamed upon him! "I mean bets,"
said he, laughing, "that I won on Burlingame." "Dear me!" she exclaimed,
"how could you do so when gaming is such a horrid habit? Why, sometimes
people are arranged at the bar for it." She was really uneasy until he
explained that, in imitation of older ones, he had bet some cents on
Burlingame and had won.