Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-06-26

out. III You don't understand tnis. sir. If tho
hottest feelings that do honor to our common
nature nave no particular sanctity in your es
tell me to go" f'''
g don't wish to do anything unoivil.
ma,am," said l. "But am a single man.
anu L am not sentimental. Mrs. Badgery
gr0aned) Nobody told me was coming into
shrine when L took this house; nobody
warned me, when / first went over il. that
there was a heart in possession. l regret to
have disturbed your meditations. and I am
sorry to hear that Mr.. Badgery is dead. That
Is all | have to say about it ; and, now, with
your kind permission, [ will do myself the
honor OF wishing you good morning, and will
go up stairs and look after the fixtures on the
second foor''
Could L have spoken more compassionately
70 woman whom 1 sincerely believed to be
old and ugly? Where is the man to be found
who can lay his hand on his heart. and honest
Iy say that he ever really pitied the sorrows Of
a Gorgon Search through the whole surface
OF globe, and you will discover human phe-
nomena OF all sorts, but you will not find that
man.
To resume. made her a bow, and left her
on the camp-stool, in the middle of the draw
ing-roo floor, exactly as I had found her. I
assembled to the second floor, walked into the
BACK room first, and inspected the CRATE. 1t
appeared to be n little out Of repair, 80 I
stopped down to look at closer. While / was
kneellng over the bars, was violently startled
by the tall Of one large drop of warm water,
from great height, exactly in the middle of a
9aid place, which has been widening a great
deal OF late years on tho top of my head. I
turned on my knees and looked up Heavens
and earth the crape-covered woman had fol-
lowed me upstairs the source from which the
drop OF warm water had fallen was no other
than Mrs. Badgery's eye.
L
wish you could cOntrive not to cry over
tho top of my head, ma am said I. NV pa-
uence was becoming exhausted, and 1 spoke
with considerable aspcrity. The curly headed
youth OF the present age may not be able to
sSymPathlze with my feelings on this occasion
but my bald brethren know, as well as I do.
that the most objectionable of all liberties is a
liberty taken with the unguardcd top of the
human head.
Mrs. Badgery did not seem to hear me
when she had dropped the tear she was stand
Ing exactly over me, looking down at the CRATE:
and she never stirred an inch after had spoken
Don { cry over my head, ma am, - repeated.
more irritably than before
Ibis was his dressing -room,'' said Mrs.
Badgery indulging in muflled soliloquy. s.Hc
was singularly particular about his shaving
water He always liked to have il i'm a little
tin pot, and he invariably desired that it might
be placed on this hob She groaned again,
and tapped one side of the crate with the leg
of her camp-stoOl
If L had been woman, or if Mrs Badgery
had been man, L should now have proceeded
to extremities, and should have vindicated my
riSht 10 my own house by an appeal to physi-
cal force. Under existing circumstances, all
that could do was to express my indignation
Dy glance. The glance produced not the
slightest result-and no wonder. Who can
look at woman with any effect, through
Grape veil?
retreated into the second floor front room.
and instantly shut the door after me- The next
moment heard the ruStling of the Grape gar
mentS outside, and the mutfied voice of Mrs
Badgery poured Ialnentably through the key
hole.
DO you mean to make that your bed
room asked the voice on the other side of
the door ooh, don t, don't make that your
bed-r0om. L am going away directly--but,
Oh pray, pray let that one room be sacred
Don I sleep there 1T you can possibly help it,
don't sleep there
L opened the window, and looked up and
down the road. If l had seen a policeman
within hail | should certainly have called him
In No such person was Visible. | shut the
window again, and warned Mrs. Badgery
through the door, in my stern9st tones, rot TO
interfere with my domestic arrangements. II
mean to have my bedStead put up here" |
SAID. " Aud what is more, L mean to sleep
mere. And what Is more, L mean to snore
here! Severe, l think, that last sentence
Ii completely crushed Mrs. Badgery for the
moment. L heard the Grape garments rustling
away from the door; L heard the muffled
groans going slowly and solemnly down the
stairs again.
In due course of time, also descended to
the ground-iloOr Had Mrs. Badgery really
left the premises, L looked into the front
parlor-empty. Back parIor-empty Any
other room on the ground foor' Yes a long
room ut the end of the passage The door was
closed lopencd it cautiously, and pceped in.
faint scream, and a smack of two distract
dly-claspcd hands sIuted my appearance.
there she was, again on the camp stool, again
sitting exactly IN the middle of the floor.
. Don't, don't look in, in that way,'' cried
Mrs Badgery, wringing her hands O. could
bear IL IN any other room, but l can't bear il
In this Every Monday morning looked out
the things for the wash in this room. BE was
difficult to please about his linen; the washcr-
woman never put starch enough in his collars
to satisfy him. Oh, how often and often has
he popped his head in here, as you popped
yours just now and said, in his amusing wav,
More starch!' Oh, how droll he always was
how very, very droll in this dear little back
room y"
said nothing. The situation had now got
beyond words. / stood with the door in nv
hand, looking down the passage towards the
6"iNSh, "Hu uVBScuiy LOT Mrs. DAD
gerry TO go out. My plan succeeded She rose,
sighed, shut up the camp-stool, staked along
the passage, paused on the hall mat, said TO
herself, Sweet, sweet spot !" descended the
steps, groaned along the gravel walk, and dis
appeared from view at last through the gar
den door.
. Let her in again at your peril" said l to
the woman who kept the house. She curtseyed
and trembled. L left the premises. satisfied
with my own conduct under very trying cir.
cumstances, delusively convinced, also, that /
had done with Mrs. Badgery.
The next day / sent in the furniture The
most unprotected object on the face Of this
earth is house when the furniture is going in.
The doors must be kept open; and employ as
many servants as you may, nobody can be de-
pended on as domestic sentry so long as the
van is at the gate. 4 he confusion Of knowing
inn demoralizes the steadiest disposition, aud
there is no such thing as a properly guarded
post from the top of the house to the bottom
How the invasion was managed, how the sur
prise was effected, know not but it is eer-
tainly the fact, that when my furniture went
In, the inevitable Mrs. Badgery went in along
with il.