Mr.  Osgood  having  returned  to  Boston  to  make
arrangements  for  four  more  Readings  there,  I  was  left
alone  with  Mr.  Dickens  to  travel  to  Hartford,  Provi-
dence, and  Worcester  with  him ;  and  as  the  New
Haven  Reading  was  given  up,  we  had  Monday,  Feb-
ruary 17th,  on  our  hands.  This  was  devoted  to  making
up  accounts,  and  the  remitting  of  money  to  Coutts's,
after  which  Mr.  Dickens  took  me  out  for  a  "  breather,"
or,  as  he  termed  this  one,  a  "buster,"  our  walk  being
from  the  Westminster  Hotel  along  the  Fifth  Avenue,
and  round  the  Central  Park  (altogether  about  eight  or
nine  miles) ;  and  as  both  Mr.  Dickens  and  myself  were
well  known  in  New  York,  and  as  the  newspapers  had
frequent  references  to  the  walking  match,  the  pace  at


2S6  CHARLES  DICKENS.  ^

which  we  went  along  the  fashionable  quarter  of  the
city  created  some  little  amusenient.  The  following
morning  we  were  much  interested  to  find  this  para-
graph in  one  of  the  daily  newspapers  :  "  Dickens  and
Dolby  are  in  town,  and  had  a  walking  match  yesterday
in  the  park.  They  were  afterwards  seen  taking  dinner
at  Delmonico's,  and  as  Dolby  paid  for  the  dinner,  we
know  who  lost  the  match,"

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  did  not  dine  at  Delmonico's,
but  at  our  own  hotel,  for  in  the  evening  we  travelled
to  Hartford,  to  be  in  readiness  for  the  Reading  on  the
following  evening.
