Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-04-12

and the General, a short, stout man
with very red, puffy cheeks, very white
/ hair, long iron-gray mustaehe turnee
up quite savagely at the ends and {
huge pair of green goggles STG0a
He wore frogged, tight-ftting coat
and military. boots, and bowed nearly tt
the ground when Vincent introduced
us. He spoke English little stiffiy ano
in curiously high pitched voice, but
quite correctly. He appeared to be g
man of extensive reading; and after Civ
| ing me an account of the dress of the
| Russian peasants, he was informing me
| that his Intentions in visiting America
were nearly altogether matrimonial, he
had heard so much of the beauty Of the
ladies of our country, when the door
1opened and Aunt Judith, in rose-colored
grenadine and her newly arranged wig,
glided in. her hands, despite the horror
of caterpillars, full of roses, and 9, sweet
smile displaying her admirable false
teeth. --
I was afraid to look at Vincent as he
went through the ceremony of intro
ducing the pair; but when we were
again seated, glanced hurriedly at him
and found his face SO perfectly grave
that [ took courage and joined in the
conversation; and presently, when papa
came in, Istrolled out on the lawn, and
Vincent followed me, where we had a
nice little chat until dinner was ready.
~I l never thought before what clever
creature he was until / found how de-
lightful it was to be able to stroll about
and sit beside each other without Aunt
Judith's eyes being on us.
I was quite surprised at the sudden
way the General seemed to devote him.
self to her. He came every day with
Vincent, and while the latter and | sat
on the veranda, Aunt Judith and the
General sat in the drawing-room play
ing chess or conversing in low tones !;
and once, coming in suddenly, was
perfectly certain that | saw the General
squeezing her hand across the table.
She began to drop strange hints about
the court of Russia, and the necessity
she felt for studying the etiquette OBJ
served there, and from recipe dictated
to her by him, she attempted the manu-
facture of the national kevass but /
don't think the general could have given
it correctly, for it turned out exactly
like ginger cordial, and they used to
drink a great deal of it out of tall
liqueur- glasses. He used to give her
lessons in the language, too, at first !;
butI think he found it easier to make
her comprehend his sentiments in Eng
lish than in Russian. He brought her q
pair Of curious skates turned up at the
toes, and he said skating was fayorite
I, II x,I
he offered to procure her young bear,
very favorite pet with his country
women, he asserted. But l was so hor
ribly frightened at the mere idea, that
Vincent told him him he must not
dream of it, and think Aunt Judith
was secretly rejoiced, though she had
already commenced a gay bead-collar
for the horrid creature.
We had such pleasant time, Vincent
and I, and was really Mortified when
the general announced that he was going
away for time; and Aunt Judith pro-
ceeded to make a fresh supply of ke-
vass, and a quantity Of gingerbread
nuts, of which the general vas extremely
fond, in order to furnish him with SOU
venirs of herself during the journey.
AUOuU UI1lS UlluG v ll1tCllt OCCdlIlC NCly
restless, and frequently noticed the fat
little general and him in frequent con-
versation, and at length made up my
mind to make Vincent tell me all about
what was going on so, one evening
when | had just finished sing his favor
ite song, and he looked very lazy and
good-natured, l tried to coax him into
telling me; but he opened his sleepy
eyes very wide, and said / was "a sus-
picious little puss,' and that was quite
mistaken in thinking there was any
thing up, and of course l pretended to.
believe him; but | made up my mind
to find out for myself all about it. .-.-a g..
Auntie had gone to town early in the
afternoon in my pony carriage-which
she always called a droschki noW--and
presently I saw it coming up the drive
in the moonlight, and if there wasn't
the general beside her, with his head
quite close to her bonnet. pretended
not to see that, though, when Iran out
to pat Airy and Fairy but the moon
light was quite bright enough to show
me that auntie's rouge looked just a tiny
bit deeper than usual, and. her, manner.
was extremely gracious as the fussy little
general helped her out of the carriage.
After dinner they played chess and
drank kevass rs usual, while papa read
the papers, and dozed in his armchair.
Vincent and the general left early,
and auntie immediately went to bed,
leaving papa and /. tete-a-tete; and, for
the first time, I noticed that the poor
dear looked quite worn and anxious, and
really the way he babe me goodnight
frightened me horribly.
=" Dora, my ohild,yi he said, as he
lighted my lamp for me, "may beg of
you, if you hear any strange noise in the
house tonight, that you won't come out
of your ooml If" he continued, look
ing at me with tears in his dear, round
eyes, "you should hear "a pistol-shot
or two,7 don't be alarmed, but just fancy
you're dreaming, and 60 to sleep again,
like a good little girl; or, if you can't
quite manage that, don't forget to put
on your flannel dressing-gown, as the
passages are cold at night; and, above
all, don't waken your aunt. She's a
woman of gigantic intellect, but apt to
be faintish; and, for slender, spiritual
woman, she's uncommonly heavy to lift
i suppose it's the bone and the BRAIN
Besides, Dora, Ifsdspeet-mind, only
suspect-that your aunt Judith's COM
plexion is owing to excitement, and that
perhaps it isn't quite as rosy at night
when the stimulus of pleasant society is
removed; and she mightn't like
strangers to see her en- disability, rs the
general says. / think I'll just turn the
key in the door after she's asleep, and
then she'll have a quiet spot to faint in.
-eh, darling?'
"Why, pa dear" I said, turning as
white as my muslin dress, "what on