Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-12-23
The Left Slipper.

- | thought fairies were obsolete, and Gin
derella nowhere / exclaimed one morning,
drawing out from under the sofa of my sit
ting room a small slipper for left foot
'' but if ever there was a lady, be she Gin
derella or Susannah, who had smaller foot
than this would fit, | should like to see her,
that S all. =
sat down again to my coffee and ham.
and wondered however it could happen that
Mrs. Pottle. my worthy and obsequious
landlady, should have allowed the slipper TO
have been overlooked in tse " thorough
cleaning she had assured me always took
place between the exit and enfree of her diff
lerent sets of dodgers yet here it was. The
shining Of the soft, bronze-colored leather
had attracted my eve as the sun lit up the
abyss beneath the sofa and now, what must
| do with it? Perhaps, after all, it was
Mrs Prottles own; but | laughed at the
idea of her elephantine foot finding entrance
there perhaps il belonged to child or
grandehild but it was not probable in
terpretatiOn of the mystery. 1t could surely
not be kept under tho-sofa for ornament !;
and vet how should such thing as one
slipper not be missed, if the owner possessed
two feet?
However, the little innocent-looking slip
per, fit to Il very fairy's foot, lay there
and destroyed my peace OF mind | looked
AT it. My readers may laugh at me as they
choose bat | will frankly con less, that
whilst some men fall in love with bunch
of curls. pair of ewes. a smile, hand q
voice, was, before breakfast was half over
head and ears in love with slipper 1t
was olly.-nOnsense, of course but so it
was. Philosophers would say it was the
form that my Imagination conjured up as the
real owner of the slipper but don't care
to be So particular Il believe | fell in love
with the little slipper itself. Such a pretty
little thing it looked and felt as | turned it
over in my hand, with its silken sandals
and rosette Of blue, and its neat lining of
white silk a dainty little article. indeed.
perfumed with soft, sweet odor of roses,
that all its long isolation from its sweet mis-
tress had not wholly destroyed.
| heard Mrs Pottle ascending the stairs
with my letters, and hastily put the slipper
in my coat pocket had determined that l
would be guilty of theft, if theft it was,
sooner than part with my new treasure. The
landlady entered. :" Letters, sir. il you
please, sir -
" Thank you,' l answered coolly, and let
her go again though | longed for the his
tory of her previous lodgers. | thought she
eyed me suspiciously, but, of course, L was
mistaken and | turned and finished my
breakfast, and then broke open the envelopes
/ VI ltbttIS
| ring the bell. Mrs Pottle enters l an
sitting on the sofa reading the paper; but
| just say carelessly, g You have kept these
| lodgings sometime, suppose, Mrs Pottle ~
| Law yes, sir, she answers, stopping
short in the general gathering together OF
plates and dishes; nigh upon twenty
years Through my poor Samuel being
taken off early, sir, | was obliged to begin
at forty. Now I'm turned sixty, sir
: i
a smile, {" that they hardly can think its
more than few years ago began, lin so
much the same
" There they are right | said, willing
to propitiate Mrs. Pottle,-" you might as
well pass for fifty, and a young looking
woman at that but, however, what sort OF
people do you mostly get here,-young men
like | am, in merchants offices, or some
thing of that kind ?''
Well, yes, sir; first and last, I've had
some scores of clerks and junior partners
but still, it isn't always so !; but there was
one young man an,-nearly the first ever had
/ did not exactly want a twenty years list
of dodgers, SO | interrupted the worthy soul
by saying, g But who have you had lately
who was the last now, before | came -
"A curious old couple, sir, as you ever
cast eyes on
"OldH' [ gasped. =
Mrs. Pottle did not, | suppose, notice my
agitation. but replied, Yes sir, the gentle
man about seventy-tiye, | should think, and
the lady might be a year older or younger
not much difference between them But l
beg your pardon, that's none of your bus,
sir" And Mrs. Pottle disappeared with
tho tray just as the horn and the rafting
wheels were distinctly heard, nearing the
terrace. put on my hat mechanically, and
went down stairs, vexed with the abrupt
termination of her recital. As rode along
the thought struck me that the whole affair
was trick, and that Mrs. Pottle wanted to
bind me to the spot, make me interested
in her house, or inveigled in some foolish
love affair. This decided me to take no
notice Of her attempts at conversation for
the future, and not even to permit her to
finish the story begun in the morning
just then the omnibus stopped, and an old
maiden lady, whom l had known through
her acquaintance with a much respected aunt
of mine, similarly circumstanced as to age
and matrimony, entered it. | politely
handed her to scat for my aunt's sake, and
commenced a conversation which | strove to
render interesting, though my mind was GER
tainly very absent that day so absent that
in one of the pausss of our discourse / in