Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-01-16

want Mr.. Cousins key for? '
just as stupid as you, you see. I was
mad with the girl. [ own I always get
out of temper with those Yorkshire peo-
pie. Ii you ask EN- the simplest ques-
ton, first they open their mouths and
cape at you. When you've repeated the
question twice they shut their mouths
and think for bit Then the idea seems
to reach the thing that does duty with
EN- for brains, and excites a sort of
reflex action, for, by lingo instead of
answering your question, they go and
ask you one. And that makes me so
mad. Oh, they're very dense race,
those Yorkshire people.
"Why to open the safe, you stupid, :"
said I. "Where is he ?"
Don't ye know?'' says she.
Know, I cried in rage. "What
should ask you for, if I did know 2"
Didn't thou know he were at thai
house?"
All so he was. I'd nearly forgotten
that he was one of the guests at my
wife's party. Clearly, I couldn't get the
safe open, and didn't like to leave the
money in my desk, so [ put it in my
pocket and took it home, thinking I'd
give it to Cousins with my key, to put it
IN the safe when he returned.
A nice mess I got into when I reached
home; for you see it had been arranged
that [ was to go upstairs and dress
before anybody came; and that then
our room was to be made ready for
the ladies to take their bonnets of-for
they were not all carriage people. Well,
you never saw such thing When 1
got home and crept upstairs to dress
the people had all come, so the servant
sald-there were six muffs and four bon
nets, and five pork-pie hats, and half-a-
dozen shawls on the bed and one lady
had left her everyday curls hanging over
the looking glass ! Upon my word, [
really didn't like to perform my toilet
among all these feminine gear and there
was no lock to the door, and my dress
clothes were all smothered up amongst
these mufs and things. But I got
through pretty well, and had just got one
of my legs into my trousers, when bang
atrop-dop-dop such rattle at the
knocker, and L heard my wife scuttling
away into the hall. They were the
Markbys, our trJmp-cards, who kept
their own carriage, and everything
grand.
$50 kind of you, my dear !" said my
wife, kissing Mrs. Markby most afec-
tionately I could hear the reports where
[ stood.
So delighted Really, how nicely;
how beautifully you arrange everything
L can't have things so nice, with all my
servants and -
Run upstairs, dear, do p said my
wife "you know the room-my room,
right-hand at the top of the stairs
[ heard futter of female wings on
the stairs. What was [ to do? If /
could have managed the other leg, I
wouldn't have minded, but 1 couldn't.
[ hadn't worn those dress-things for a
good while, and [ don't get any thinner
as l grow older. No, for the life of me,
| couldn't dispose of that other leg at
such short notice What could I do? I
could only rush to the door, and set my
back against it. Did tell you this was
our house-warming party? [ think not
Did | tell you our landlord had altered
the house for us, making our bedroom
larger by adding a slip that had formed
a separate room? I think not. And vet
1 ought to have told you all these cir
cumstances, to enable you to understand
the catastrophe that followed. In a
word, the door opened outwards. I'd
forgotten that popularity having
had a room so constituted beforehand
never will again. The door went open
with crash, and I bounded backwards
into Mrs. Markby's arms. Smelling
salts and sal volatile, was there ever
such an untoward affair!
CT, o1- g., h.
hoped back into my room. hid my
head among the holsters and muffs, and
almost cried; for I'm such a delicate
minded man. Yes, it hurt me a good
deal more than IL did Mrs. Markby, for,
would you believe it?-she told the story
down below to the whole company, with
pantomimic action-and when I showed
myself at the door of the drawing-room,
was received with shouts of inextinguish-
able laughter
l think / called the Yorkshire people |
dense just now, didn't I? Well, I'll add
another epithet- coarse-dense and
coarse. I told EN- so; but they only
laughed the more
The guests were gone, the lights were
out, slumber had just visited my eyes, |
when right into my brain, starting me |
up as if I'd been shot, came noise, a
sort of dull bursting noise. I wasn't |
really certain at first whether I had |
heard a noise or only dreamed of it. 1 |
sat up in bed and listened intently. Was
it only my pulse humping into my ears,
or were those regular beats, the tramp
of somebody's muffied feet? Then I
heard an unmistakable sound-creak,
creak, creak-a door being opened slow |
ly and cautiously. All in a moment the
idea flashed into my head tloenty-t,oo |
thousand pounds. You see, all this
dancing and iunketing, and laughing
and chatting, had completely driven out
of my mind all thought of the large sum
1 had in my possession. I had left it in
a great-coat pocket, which was hanging
up in the hall, downstairs
Puff! gust of wind came through the
house, rafting the doors and windows;
and then heard door slam, and foot
step outside of some one stealing eau
tiously away.
Away down stairs I went like mad