The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-04-04
- -. p =.
SELECTED STORY.
[From the Galaxy for APRIL
Austiu Chasuble's Love Chance
BY rHEo GIFT.

B1 IhLU oAr
Gone should try to be contented, Mrs.
Bosely. We are all given what is peedful for
us you know"
$50 we be, sir, so we be; but the draught
do come in at that 'ere door DIRE adful it do.
/ feels it across my lines like the stroke of a
stick, no less" i&5A hA1A33iMs- NsllA
"Well. you must speak to your landlord,
and if he won't do anything, be patient.
Patience is, etc., etc."
Thus l, curate of st. Stephens in-the-west,
to Mrs. Bosely, ey-laundress AMI present out
door pauper, in No. 3, Jinks alley, sitting on
one Of Ms. Bosley's bottomless cane chairs,
and uttering weak platitudes by way ofsooth-
ing Mrs. Bosley's complaints. DIS not sneer,
my reader Is it not the special province of a
curate to utter the said mildly moral senten-
ces, and sit on bottomles3 chairs for ven
period out of every twenty-tour hours? "Si
Ience the complaint by relieving the want!'
NV friend, every old woman in the parish has
draughty door with which she would not
part for the diamond mines of Golconda.
Were to give Ms. Bosely shilling, she
would spend it in snuff and go on complain
ing. Were TO send man to do i'll don't
know, but think she would resist actively,
and, il overcome would possibly take cold and
die.
And meanwhile, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs.
Jones, and Mrs. Black have each their
draughty door.
For all these reasons quietly balanced my
sell on my purgatorial chair, and said that
which was expected from me. Mrs. Bosely's
room was about six feet square, and smelt
strongly of herring and cabbage: result, prob
ably, of Mrs. Bosely's dinner. The window
two panes of sooty glass-was shut and
wedged, my hostess Objecting on prir. ciple to
fresh air. Iha1 had no dinner, no lunch even,
having been wishing since breakfast. NY feet
were in a pool of water, which had ooZed in
from under Mrs. Bosleys door. Something
nearly aliied--unles, my shrinking senses de-
ceived me-to the Norfolk Howard family,
was leisurly patrolng the back OF my neck.
TIE preserved perfumes OF dinner aud Jinks
alley made me feel sickish; but it was Mrs.
Bos.ly's day for ten minutes clerical comfort,
and ten minutes she must accordingly have.
And my rhedmatics, SIR pursu ID The
dame plaintively, ''they be that dreadful 1
cant abide 'em. They crockes one all up
like, they does"
N "Your share of this worlds Affections, Mrs.
Bosely," said l, settling my Roman collar
for the ten minutes were nearly up. Rheu-
matism Is very painful thing, but one ought
to count it privilege to bear the crosses
which, taFFHH 81 .sN
had got thus far when was interrupted
by sharp KIN ock at the door.
There's the taxes, dra. 'emF' cried Mrs.
Bosely, forgetting her pastors presence in
natural irritability. Come in, do"
And accordingly there came in-not the
taxes, but beautiful girl about nineteen; a
girl with big blue lambert eyes; with sweet
flushed face, oval-shaped, and dimpled like a
baby's; with parted dewy lips, and great
. masses Of glossy bronzed plaits coiled away
under the sweeping plume of her broad felt
hat: a girl to take away your breath, and
make you curse the mud on your boots and
the missing buttons on your ecclesiastical
waistcoat.
Lord ha merceyv' quoth Mrs. Bosely,
my dear?" -,,,,-,
y ''All right, thanks,'' said Mrs. Bosley's
young lady in a cheerful, rather loud voice
as, without gIancing at me, shook tue DANES
stiff, wrinkled fingers in her small lavender
kidded hand. "How is the rheumatism ?''
Mort n bad, miss, moral badv' replied
Mrs. Bosely, delighted to begin all over again
that the truth tell you. They does crockle
one up like" io1
"Ah, just what they were doing the last
time L saw you, grannie," said the young
lady coolly; ''and as they are no better. and
that 'crockling' propensity must be very un
pleasant. I'll tell you what Pll do. Have you
ever heard of Turkish bath?''
"a WudG, HISS e aSk0Q-.lAtf cooOiy, w
whom the word ssbata.s, .@Sanued very much
as II v,ssss 1890 - ohe of those hydrophobic
MOUNDS with whom Mr.. Grantlev Berkeley
used to bore us so much little while ago in
the "Times"
ga Turkish BATH" repeated the girl, with
cheerful distinctness, while sat in silence
and did not laugh. My uncle is older than
you are, and has just had several, which have
done him no end of good. I1ou're put into
hot water first, think, and then cold is
soused-"
''Water, m'm," gasped Mrs. Bosely, al
most SPECIFICS with natural disgust.
Water. OF course" replied her visitor.
beaten. and your joints are cracked, and-I |
don't quite know what else; but you come
oft beauiifuir' f.lr3
Mrs. Bosely groaned family.
Il should come out dead,' she said SOL
emnly; sit 'ould kill me on the spot"
1T would cure you," retcrted the young
lady. ''You say the rheumatism is killing
you now; so you must want to be cured, and
I'll just bring a cab g1sst srrlssE
s'Look'ee here, MISS" said Mrs. Bosely
coaxingly-she evidently had reasons for not
offending her visitor by too abrupt refusal
that 'ere-cure could cost mints."
1T costs something, otcourse," replied the
girl; ''but | shall pay that: and
Miss Jnlitp' cried Mrs. Bosely, almost
1t 'ould be wrong. There now! We must
all have patience, you know, miss, in this
vale O. tears; and as my clergyman was just
sayin' to me, one lad ought to count it a
privilege to carry the crosses as is sent ,ls.''
"Oh, nonsensep interrupted the girl curt
ly. ITS all very well to carry crosses if you
can't get any one to carry them for you; but
IT you can, drop them and be THANKFUL
An then, miss, 1 do think as the rheu-
matism is betterin' a little-I do, indeed,
miss. They amt so fixed like in the bones:
an don't believe as I'd ave 'em at all if
weren't for that ERE drafted door, as the
draught do cut me in 'alf. it do" sR
WY, Mrs. 'Bosely, 1 sent some one to
mend that door, ...a IT
.'Ah! an indeed twas very good o. you,
miss. A boy, he did come; but he made
such jawin' and clotterin' round, knowed
as he couldn't do nothnk; an, not to de-
ceive you, nm, I'm that shaky I can't abear
worritn'.'' it
why. you troublesome old thing" cried
the girl merrily, che would have done it all
right Let me look5at it,"
An then she turned round, and espied me
In my dark corner by the door,
why, who's this, Mrs. Boselv pv she
asked quickly. "Your widowed eranddauph-
terr' How do you do, my girl? and WHY
don't you come and take care of your poor
This was too much. 1 had already been
shocked to the soul sy this girps leyity: but
to be taken for an i'll conditioned Young
woman! matchmaking rom the bottom Of
my heart my classically hairless face and rie
idly lengthy coat, rose up, while Mrs. Bose
ly exclaimed: "
Why, lor bless you, dear! that be Mr..
Jazible, my minister" o
~ hope am not in your way." said
stiffly, seeing she had the grace to blush. but
relen;ng because the blush made her SO won
derfulIy pretty. -
, u beg your pardon, Mr.. 49, Jezebel.
"Chasuble," I corrected, rather warm
.. "Mr. Chasuble, I really beg your pardon.
but that corner is so dark, 1 could not see YOU
properly. Perhaps you can tell me what is to
be done for Mrs. Bosely's door,
her manner was deliciously frank. I sup-
gested that something nailed against the
crack ..-'
The very thing" she said. PROMPTLY.
"A capital idea. One of those red flannel
sausage things that men carry round in the
snow; Nov, Mrs. Bosely, where can 1 get
"Oh, don't zee trouble, miss.:' replied that.
individual, very uncomfortably. 1T don't
matter, the door don't One gets rsed tn