Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-02-07

began to groom himself with his tongue
Poor old Dabblei" said his master,
scratching his head with a fore6nger and
the animal, instead of purring like another
cat, gave little murmured " Vow, Yowl"-
as evident an attempt to speak as possible.
Dabble. Polite for diable?" inquired.
ayes. He is my familiar, and, with one
exception, my only friend and companion
Are you not, Dabble9"
"Yow, Vow"
"Is he old 2"
Ivory. Fifteen years, should say"
| do not think am very curious about
other peoples private affairs, as a general
rule but certainly confess to having felt
that impairment passion in the present in
stance. Who was this young man, whose
manners, phraseology and accent bespoke him
an educated gentleman Aud why did he live
in ruin alone with Il black cat double the
size and intelligence of other black cats
Well, he didn't quite. There was witch
connected with the establishment and pres
emily she came in. Her hooked nose, curved
chin, and general appearance might fairly
have burned her, were not faith cold without
collateral evidence but she carried her
broom in her hand and the black cat ran to
her, rubbed against her old legs, sat up, and
plunged his claws again and again into her
dress with ecstatic grasps. Damnatory signs
against the whole family; "Tortures for
three ~ the order peremptorilY demanded by
the fitness Of things, Mr.. TcOle. Yet she
was a poor, degenerate, harmless witch; per-
haps apsed WITCH who had been baptized !;
for she was afraid of the thunder, and shook
like a screw steamer in gale whenever a
fresh clap came She had taken refuge in
vault which was once cellar, and had been
flooded out The sight of me frightened her
almost as much as the thunder and water.
ave are not used to visitors" said the
young man, with smile Of explanation.
{" This gentleman has come in for shelter,
Molly. Have we anything TO offer him be-
sides dry bread and hard cider 2"
&" Dabble brought in a rabbit early this
morning, Master Walter" mumbled the old
woman,
GOOD Dabble !" and he patted the cats
head. "Well, cook the rabbit for us, please
Molly"
There were some smoldering wood-embers
on the large hearth, which the old woman
raked together, and blew up into fame aud
then adding fresh fuel, she disappeared to
skin the Dabble-captured bunny, which was
in due time boiled, and set before US. Our
table cloth, though very coarse, was clean ;
and the same might be said Of the iron forks.
l added the bread and cheese from my KNAPP
sack to the common stock. My host took
the head Of his table with the air Of a Bel
gravian entertainer Dabble stood at his side
on his hind-legs, with his tore-paws and black
head appearing over the edge Of the board
till he received suitable morsel when he
went down and dispatched il on the floor, re-
appearing when it was finished. If his mas.
ter proved dilatory, he put out paw side.
ways, and dabbed his arm, at the same time
uttering plaintive meaow. When we three
had finished our meal, we left the table and
the harmless witch sat down, and had her
dinner before cearsng away. Of course
had been abstemious. One rabbit amongst
four is net gorge try it.
l have gone INTO these details of my first
meeting with Walter Musgrave in his ruin,
because they made great impression upon
me. l should not have been surprised to find
poor but proud don placed in correspond
ing position in some corner of Spain OF
even in ireland the situation would not have
seemed abnormal But that an English gen.
teman, so reduced, and having good health
should not have emigrated, or enlisted, OF
driven cab, supposng no one would give
him $50 year as clerk, was an unintel-
ligible muddle to me. But an impatient
reader will decline to take any interest il
such reflections 50 will simply state
without explanation, that my host and
grew very friendly before we parted that
night; that l walked over from Dowd again
next day, and persuaded him to 60 back
, with me, ard eat a return dinner; that
became very intimate with him, and proong
, ed my stay in the neighborhood in conse
quence; and that he told me his history
1t was a story of lawsuit; For three
generations the NJ usgrayes had been throw
ing away substance in their race after
shadow, until the family and its acres hat
dwinded down TO this one member, the ole
| ruinous mansion and few roods OF grass
land about it. Lawyers had devoured the
5 rest,-honest lawyers, look you for thu
} shadow appeared very tangible, aud 1 be
lieve that the cleverest of them had bonafid,
} confidence in pulling his client safe through
Q The bone Of contention was freehold grounl
in thriving city,-a very nice bone, with
! plenty Of meat upon it. The Musgrave
} could not make their title clear neither
could the Contremusgaves make their IT,
tie clear and 80 the property remained un
, productive. The houses could not be let, MOI
pulled down, nor patched up. The Musgrav,
d claim was admitted to be very strong bu
one link in the chain was wanting Ger
1 tain deed which was known to exist, bu
t could not be found anywhere. The provok
r ing part of the matter was, that it had bcel
- discovered once by the present claimant
4 grandfather but at that time other neces
e sary legal evidence, since collected, had moi