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“ Amidst a death-like stillness the door of this box flew open, and out stepped, with an air of jaunty assurance, with flaxen hair and whiskers, a nobby suit of clothes, an eye-glass, a cane, and patent leather boots—out stepped, with a bow and a smirk, just as any human being might have done, only with infinitely more grace and ease—out stepped the miraculous, the mysterious, the supernatural, the incomparable Automaton! The entire audience, having held their breath for a half-hour without stopping, now let it out again in a prolonged and mighty "Ah-h-h-h!" ”

“ Countless small boys had climbed the trees which happened to grow within a hundred yards of the windows, and strove manfully to imagine they could see what was going on between the chinks of the closed blinds. Within, a black curtain was stretched across the stage, which was raised some five feet above the floor of the hall. Close in front, by way of orchestra, sat David Clank, the town jailer, who played the violin at all the sociables in Mullenville; on this evening he was likewise engaged to touch the spring which was to raise the curtain. ”

“ Even had it been less picturesque, one would suppose that the sunshine in the young people's hearts would have supplied any deficiencies. Alas! for the folly of human beings, their own worst enemies! It was on this lovely, solitary road, gilded by the afternoon sun and shadowed by the trees, that these two fortune-favored, prosperous, romantic young idiots got themselves involved in one of those unpardonable sins called lovers' quarrels, brought on by absolutely nothing whatever, and yet maintained and carried through to a fatal termination. ”

“ In this box, it was whispered, was concealed the marvelous mechanism of the Automaton. The sensation created was profound, and apparently not unmixed with fear. Men gathered in little knots and groups, whispering apprehensively to one another, and casting strange glances ever and anon over their shoulders into dark corners of the depot, unilluminated by the red light of lanterns and gas lamps. ”

“ Indeed, it was asserted—on the authority of a number of testimonials from distinguished people living out West—that many individuals who professed to be well acquainted with mankind, and deeply versed in the arcana of human nature, had, nevertheless, been completely bamboozled by the marvelous accuracy wherewith the automaton counterfeited humanity. ”

“ It is no use talking about money, and obligations, and immitigable elderly people: all the world knows that the day for those things has gone by,—lovers never pay any attention to them now (when they are really in love) . The dark fact remains, that Sam Gumple, having satisfied himself of the actual and permanent disappearance of Mr. Ned Holland, took to ogling the deserted young lady again: he called on her evenings, walked home with her afternoons ”

“ Why, young Ned Holland, from Cambridge, who has been sent up here to rusticate, having been detected in the execution of some tremendous practical joke upon the faculty. He is a talented, audacious sort of chap, popular among both men and women,—for there is a large amount of pure romance mingled with his composition, and an impetuosity and fertility of thought and action such as girls always like, and men too, unless they happen to be jealous. ”

“ That Automaton did beat all nature, as Sam Gumple remarked sotto voce to Nellie Swansdown. It seemed absolutely to be endowed with human intelligence; indeed, the opinion was expressed that no human intelligence could equal it. ”

“ Nevertheless, there have been, and still are, certain pig-headed people who persist in asserting that there was something more in that Automaton than ever was made known to the public at large. They hint that Nellie Swansdown was actually forced to elope with this mechanical goblin, as a judgment upon her for having, in a fit of anger with an admirer of hers, declared she would rather marry an automaton than him. ”

“ Sam Gumple.
N. S. (smiling—perfectly miserable) —Poor Sam! he's a human creature, at any rate,—not a machine.
N. H. (furious at this concession to his rival—his voice trembling) —Do I understand you to say I'm a machine, Miss Swansdown?
N. S. (bursting into a fit of laughter,—its a wonder it wasn't crying, poor little thing!) —Why, it isn't possible you don't know that, Mr. Holland? You always reminded me so much of a clock!—stuck up to be looked at ”

“ Holland, if you only wouldn't pretend to be a man, you might be very interesting—as a machine.
N. H. (overwhelmed at this unprecedented outburst from his gentle little Nellie Swansdown—the blockhead hasn't sense enough to know that in wounding her pride and self-love he has committed a well-nigh irreparable insult) —Why! ”