, 1866-12-30
No. 3 BRANCH LINE.

.-, iAE CONFIRMATION HOUSE.
There's not d looking.slas ia NIL th
houte, Sir. It's some peculiar fancy 20 of IN IN
in the house.'' o - 0''
II was dark and gloomy-loo bn,ld
ing, and had been purchased t,Y this com De
ny ior an enlargement OF their Goods Sto
.loa. .l; ne &c Ealuc Of the house had ocel
compensation jury" and the A,,lsc va
called, In consequence. The Com pen satio,
liotkc. 1t lad become the eo1upauy's mn
pcrtS but its tenant still rrnlaincd In M hos
.cssion, pending the commencement Of ac
orS,oo1ia e9s oa'ia'nE oresntloes Ny attention va
stood directly In front Of u collection u hrir
pieces OF timber which lay near this nart a
tue Line, and on which sometimes sal E,1
hali IN hour at time, whcu WAS tired b1
my Wandcrlngs about Mugby Junction.
IL was square, cold. gray-tooking. built o
Of the same material. Its windows were f.g
IN nnmbcr aud very small for the size Of ,ht
building. In the great blank. rray broad
side There we're only four windows. The en-
trance door was 1t, The middle Of the house
theie was window on either side of it, aud
t1eic we're two more In the single s,ory
above. The blinds were all closely drawn,
and. when tue door was shut, tho trcary
building gave no sign Of life or occun.tfor1
=. But The door Was mot always shut. Some.
1nhcs 4 WAS opcntd fiom within, with a
great 3lns ling of1"lts and door.chains, aud
nro1 the doorstep. snut:sng the air a. one
might 10 who was ordinarily kept on rather
s1naH allowance OF that element, He WIS
stout. hick set, aud perhaps tI(ty or sIxty
years otd-a man whose halr was cut *.
Sceoingly close. who wore large hushy
,n ,%sfa' I,' and whose eye had soclabie twinkle
"a Il which was pseros.e.sing. He was
Ircsscd, whenever saw him, IN a crecnish-
brown frock coat, made of some material
which was not cloth, wore waistcnat and
trousers OF light color, and had frlll 10 HI.
snifl-an ornament, By the why, which did
mh,es MI seem 10 goat all we'll with the beard,
sas the custom Of this worthy person, af;rr
Standing tur a short time on the thrcshoii
'nnashE the MIR, to coine forward iuto tho
roatt. and, aftcr g11ncing at one OF the upncr
WindoWs IN a hatfnlechanira1 way, to cross
,,, usSs 10 tae !ogS, and. leaning over the frpce
winch Euar1ed the railway, to look IN and
down the Line {ll passed before thr t,ousc1
WIN TIC air of man accom- pllst,iug a sid
imposed 1nsk OF which puthlng was cxpected
u come. This done, be would cross the rad
nEaln, and. tnrnlnE on the threshold to take
p, 1ni ' sn,tl OF ALL disappear once more with
IN !lie house, boiling aud chain.nc the i..or
rs II there were no probability Of Its bcinr
reoTencd for At least a week. Yet hair ~
hour had not passed before he was ont la t,,e
road asain. shifting the air and looking IN
aud down the Line as before.
scrapc acquaintance With this restless pcr~
eonaEc. ! soon found out that nv friend
With the shs.tfsili WAS tie contlacnffal scr.
want, butler, valet, factotun, what you viii.
Of sick gentleman, Mr.. Oswald STAINED.
VINO mad recently conc to inhahit The hoIss
npposiS, M ana Concerning whose history my
Dew ncquaintance, whose name ascertaiocd
HcS Massey. SEEMED JfsDcRrd n M .n,E.
what communicative. lis master. It. % M.
reared, had come down to this place. psstfy
'or the sake Of reducing lis establishment.
n"t, Ar: alasey was swift to inform me On
economical PRINCIPLES, but because the poor
have few dependents about hfm,-partly in
gIdcr HAT he might be near his old fticnd.
VI. Garden, who was established in lhe
nelghborhood, and whose society and nd
vice were necessary TO Mr.. Stranye's lie,
inat hle wa, 1t appeared, held by this suffer-
ibE gentleman on prccartous tenure. II
was cebins away fast with each passing
h"ur. The scFraut already spoke Of liz
inaster IN the past tense, describing hin, ia
me as young gentleman not more than
I've, and Thirty years Of age, With = young
,aee. as laf q Tue features and build Of il
pothinE Of youth about II. This was tho
great peculiarly Of the man. At distance
be looked younger than be vas by 1nanv
years. and strangers, at tho time when be
bad been used to Eet about, always took him
!oF man Of seven or eight aud twenty, but
thsy changed their minds on getting nearer
10 htm. Old Massey had way Of his own OF
summing summing up the pcculiaritics Of his master.
= ccspeaaang twenty times ovcr: "Slr, he was
g ~ name, and Strango by nature, and
ctI5snse I; o 70 look At into tho Bargain"
y was during my second or thsrd iuteyYicr
with the old fellow thai he ntferrd The
@ofos quoted nj the beginning Of thfs plain
Not sreh thing ns a LOOKING. T., all
nc heusc." tic old man tatd. standin,. ~ ~
ide my piece Of timber, and iooEtn,, Icr,s.
,rc." fF''s' Not
III In T., the slt,fne-rooms. suppose you
"No, sir, mean sittiug-rooms and he'd
comt both; there is mt 80 much as a shay
rE glass as big as the palm Of your hand
But how is IT," I rsked. "why are
here no looking. glasses in any Of the
toms:"
'*Ah, sir!" replied Massey, "that's what
lonc Ut III cs,r ever tell. There Ii the uye-
cry. IT'S just fancy on the part Of nv
master. lie bad some stranEc tancIes, and
his was one of them. \ pleasant gentle
nan Ec was 10 live with. as any servant
ou1d desire. y liberal gentlemen, an! one