Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-05-20

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knocked in vain; my landlady slept at
the top of the house and was as deaf as
a post. | reused the neighborhood, but
made no impression upon her. Then I
returned to my friends lodging, but had
no better fortune there, and, tired and
cold, I was obliged to patrol the neigh
! borhood for three or four hours before
could gain admittance. | was not with
out fear that my friend of the church
yard might be logging my footsteps, but
| saw nothing to excite further alarm.
Apparently we had thrown him off the
trail altogether.
CAS- soon as | got back to my rooms I
went to bed and did not get up till night
! fall. The cold seemed to have got into
my very bones. In the meantime my
landlady was loud in her complaints
against me for the loss of her key; and as
soon as | rose and had dressed / was
obliged to go to a neighboring locksmith
| to try and replace it. But the locksmith
had no key that would fit, and found it
would cost as little to have the lock re-
! placed as to have key made on pur-
pose. [ ordered lock, therefore, very
unwillingly, for it would cost four or five
shillings, sum that could i'll spare. I
was sitting in meditative mood, de-
pressed by rheum and chagrined at the
waste of SO much money, when the
blacksmith, who had left the house half
an hour before, having taken the meas
urements for the lock, returned and
| asked to see me.
OK have good news for you, sir he
said, smiling; the key has been found,
and you will be able to get it back for
nothing. Such nice, merry, old gentle
men has found it, sir! I've brought him
with me to see you, and I'll bring him up
STAIRS if you'll allow me-
"A merry old gentleman he proved to
be, with tightly-strapped trousers, very
curly brimmed hat and spencer.
"Ah, merry dogsn he cried, when he
saw me. Cad, | wish l was young
again. Oh, what games, what jolly
games! Keys! bless my heart! what do
we care about keys; fling 'em away in
the street, bless my heart! And SO the
old gentleman ran on. The locksmith
took his leave; but the merry old fellow
remained, laughing and chatting away.
'''Then you really have found my key,
sir? [ am very much obliged by the
trouble you have taken. Pray, how did
you find me out?'
6" Ha, hap cried the old gentleman;
lose a watch, go to the matchmaker;
find key, go to the locksmith.'
And will you kindly let me have my
key?'
"' AL in good time, in good time. 1t
isn't here, my boy; hadn't pocket big
enough. [ should have been obliged to
hire coach to carry it; ha, ha! You
must come and fetch it, that's the fact.
Come, and crack bottle with me, you
and your gay young friend; jolly dogs;
ha hap
81 was little disposed to turn out; but
my new friend was so pressing in his in
vitation, and being anxious to recover
my key, [ was persuaded to accompany
him. We called upon my friend, who,
being rather a gay young fellow, and
fond of wine, made no objection to bot
tie; and so we accompanied the old gen
tleman home in a coach which he hired,
to his house, full of life and merriment
all the time.
"The old gentlemans house hardly
correspondent in appearance with the
character of it's owner. 1t was decidedly
dark and gloomy, in low-lying neigh
borhood, somewhere near the river.
But the old gentleman had boosted so
much Of his cellar, and had given US in
his conversation such glimpses of his
hospitable ways of life, that we did not
doubt we should be we'll entertained, not
withstanding the unpromising look of
hisAbode.
"' Now, my boys he cried, pushing
us in before him, first door to the right.
And I'm away to the cellar to geta bottle
of my very best. In the meantime re-
fresh yourselves with pinch of snuff
He gave Us candle and his snuff-box,
the identical little box I now hold in my
hand, and left US in low-roofed, vii
demonstrating chamber, it's walls black
with the dirt Of years, festooned with
cobwebs and furnished with only few
broken chairs and table.
An eccentric, evidently said my
friend, when the old gentleman had left
Us alone; rich, too, I'll be bound. Per-
haps, as he seems to have taken fancy
to US, the old fellow will make us heirs
"He kept us waiting SO long that we
began to be uneasy-late at night, in a
strange place, the aspect of which was
not reassuring; and yet we could not
doubt the responsibility of the little old
gentleman. Presently we heard his voice,
as he sang and shouted merrilY, and he
returned, carrying in one hand bottle
and in the other swinging on his finger
my key AS he entered we noticed for
the first time a tremendous scar below
his right eye, the result, as it seemed, of
some old wound.
CHOW, my lads, won't leave you in