Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-04-11

the room while she attended to her
complexion; SO l went down to the
DRAWN G. room, where 1 found Vincent
and the General, short, stout man,
with very red, puffy cheeks, very white
hair, long iron-gray mustache turned
up quite savagely at the ends, and
huge pair of green goggles.
He wore a frogged, tight-htting coat,
and military boots, and bowed nearly to
the ground when Vincent introduced
us. He spoke English a little stiffiy and
in curiously high pitched voice, but
quite correctly. He appeared to be a
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
opened and Aunt Judith, in rose-colored
grenadine and her newly arranged wig,
glided in, her hands, despite tn horror
of caterpillars, full of roses, and a sweet
smile displaying her admirable false
teeth.
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 1 took courage and joined in the
conversation and presently, when papa
came in, strolled out on the lawn, and
Vincent followed me, where we had
| nice little chat until dinner was ready.
1 never thought before what clever
creature he was until 1 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.
/ 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
1 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 l
| 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 !;
but l 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 favorite
amusement with the Russian ladies, and
he offered to procure her a young bear,
a 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 gay bead-collar
for the horrid creature.
We had such pleasant time, Vincent
and /, and was really Mortified when
the general announced that he was going
away for q time; and Aunt Judith pro-
ceeded to make fresh supply of ke.
vass, and quantity of gingerbread
nuts, of which the general "as extremely
fond, in order to furnish him with sou.
ven;rs of herself during the journey.
About this time Vincent became very
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
J ite song, and he looked very lazy and
good-natured, tried to coax him intc
telling me; but he opened his sleepy
eyes very wide, and said was ga sus
picious little puss,' and that 1 was quite
mistaken in thinking there was any
thing up, and of course pretended t.
believe him; but l made up my minc
to find out for myself all about it.
Auntie had gone to town early in tht
afternoon in my pony carriage-whicl
she always called droschki now-anC
! presently saw it coming up the driv,
in the moonlight, and if there wasn'
the general beside her, with mis- heac
quite close to her bonnet. pretended
: not to see that, though, when 1 ran ou
to pat Airy and Fairy but the moon
, light was quite bright enough to shov
methat auntie's rouge looked just tin,
bit deeper than usual, and her manne
was extremely gracious as the fussy ittl
: general helped her out of the carriage
After dinner they played chess an'
, drank kevass AS usual, while papa rea,
a the papers, and dozed in his armchair
Vincent and the general left early
and auntie Immediately went to bed
, leaving papa and l tete-a-tete; and, 70
the first time, l noticed that the poo
l Gear looked quite worn and anxious, an,
t really the way he bade me good-nigh
3 frightened me horribly.
DORA, my cnltu, he salu, dS II
: lighted my lamp for me, "may l beg c
: you, if you hear any strange noise in tn
house tonight, that you won't come ou
of your DOM If" he continued, looI
: ing at me with tears in his dear, roun
t eyes, you should hear "a pistol-sho
: or two, don't be alarmed, but just fanc
l you're dreaming, and go to sleep agair
!. like good little girl; or, if you can
quite manage that, don't forget to pu
= on your flannel dressing-gown, as th
S passages are cold at night; and, abov
all, don't waken your aunt. She's
:, woman of gigantic intellect, but apt
be faintish and, for slender, spiritus
q woman, she's uncommonly heavy to lii
|, IL suppose it's the bone and the brair
e Besides, Dora, suspect-mind, onl
1 suspect-that your aunt Judith's con
:. plexion is owing to excitement, and ths
s perhaps it isn't quite as rosy at nigh
t when the stimulus of pleasant society
/ removed; and she mightn't lik
IS strangers to see her en- desha6ility, as th
b general says. think I'll just turn tn
key in the door after she's asleep, an
e then she'll have quiet spot to faint