"See here, I wish you would go to my house and see if you can sell my wife a bottle. She always prides herself on getting rid of agents." "Well, I wonder if your mother doesn't think she can 'fire them out' pretty well, too?" inquired the father. "Yes, but I'll bet he can't sell to my wife," ejaculated the young man. "Tell me where you live." He pointed out the house, and said he would not go to dinner till I reported. I made the call, and returned in about thirty minutes with two dollars of his wife's money. She had taken one bottle for herself and one for her mother-in-law, Mrs. French. This greatly pleased both the young man and his father; and the latter said it was worth ten times the price to them, as they would now have a case to present to their wives that would ever after cure them of patronizing agents. I assured them that their wives had actually purchased an article superior to anything they could produce. They said it didn't matter--it had all come from their store, if they didn't know how to make it. [Illustration] CHAPTER XIX. MY CO-PARTNERSHIP WITH A CLAIRVOYANT DOCTOR--OUR LIVELY TRIP FROM YPSILANTI TO PONTIAC, MICHIGAN--POOR SUCCESS--THE DOCTOR AND HIS IRISH PATIENT--MY PRESCRIPTION FOR THE DEAF WOMAN--COLLAPSED, AND IN DEBT FOR BOARD. I remained at this town about a fortnight, when I received a letter from an old acquaintance then in Toledo, Ohio, but who had formerly practiced medicine in Bronson, Michigan. He urged me to join him at once, to take an interest in the most gigantic scheme ever conceived. The Doctor was a veritable Colonel Sellers. His hair and moustache were snowy white. He wore a pair of gold spectacles, and carried a gold-headed cane; and altogether, was quite a distinguished-looking individual. He was of a nervous temperament--quick in action and speech; and would swear like a pirate, and spin around like a jumping-jack when agitated in the least. I took the first train for Toledo, and was soon ushered into the Doctor's private room at the hotel. Without any preliminaries he said to me: "Well sir, Johnston, I'm a Clairvoyant--a Clairvoyant, sir. By laying my hands on the table, in this manner, I can tell a lady just how old she is, how long she has been married, how many children she has, and if she is ailing I can tell just what her complaint is, and how long she has been sick, and all about her." "Can't you tell as much about a man as you can about a woman?" "Well, ---- it, I s'pose I can, all but the children part of it." He wanted me to act as his agent, and I should have half the profits. We decided to go through Michigan. I wrote up a circular, and sent a notice to a couple of towns to be printed in their local papers. The Doctor said he would pay all expenses till we got started; consequently I sent what money I had to my wife.