The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1877-02-15
CHAPTER VI.
THE PROFESSOR LET'S MS LODGING

THE PROFESSOR LETS HIS LODGINGS
1t was almost two months after til,
dreadful day at st. Ethelred's whsr
the quiet of Yendo Street was dis
turbed by the clattering of y cab or
the stones. 1t stopped at the profes
sor's, and the occupants, consisting o
a lady and gentleman, with an ole
man of sea-faring aspect, knocked a
the door.
To Madame Lemire's intense sur
prise, they asked for lodgings.
Lodgings! She remembered theil
first venture i'm that line of business
and went in search of the professor
The professor, then engaged in teach
ing the youngest, aged two and a half
his earliest steps, also remembered
that disastrous episode in their life
and hesitated.
The lady, who was II young lady
spoke for the party.
1--WE are easily satisfied" she said
I'VE shall want three bedrooms and a
sitting-room, but we require very little
attendance. We will give you refer
snce to a respectable lawyer, and we
will pay the rent for three months in
advance
The professor looked ut his wife.
Here was chance-and the rent three
months in advance! In five minutes
the party was up stairs. and madame,
with Nettie, was devising means of
slowing away the displaced children.
Meantime the professor went in
search of the lawyer referred to. As
for his dodgers gave the names
of Mr.. and Miss Elwood and Mr.. Croil
the lawyer knew all about Miss FL
wood. The young lady's father had
died in Australia, at the diggings.
But his little house and garden, now
in the centre of city, suddenly be-
come great, had sold for large sum.
Yes, Mr.. Lemire might depend on
Miss Elwood. 1t was odd that he
named Miss Elwood, and never spoke
of her brother; but that, after all, was
nothing; and the professor went back
with light heart and a full assurance
of his rent for whole year to come.
He found Miss Elwood sitting
among the children, and at home with
all of them; and it was very funny,
the children said, that when Ruth
came i'm she knew her at once, and
said, "You are Ruth Warneford," "and
then shook hands with her. Because,
they said, how should she know Ruth
when she did not know Nettie?
In a few days the new dodgers were
SO far settled in the house that they
seemed to form part Of the family.
The elder man, Croil by name-who
slept on the second floor, and took two
of the boys to share his room, when
he found that they would otherwise
have to sleep on the landings was
clearly an ancient mariner. He
dressed in navy blue, and wore fnl
cap of curious and sea-going cut. He
was little man, with soft and dreamy
eyes of light blue, and with very
quiet manner of speaking. He gen.
orally carried in his left hand = cake
of tobacco, with an open knife in his
right; and he cut the tobacco slowly
as he went.
At regular intervals he smoked
once before breakfast, once after, once
on the point of eight bells, once aftel
dinner, once toward tea-time, ant
once after, once before supper, anC
once after. "But not, !" as he remarke &c
to young Rupert Lemire, the eldest
born-"not to be forever with pipt
in your mouth-as If you might be tn.
stove of lighter. That's not the way
my lad, for them as earns their breat
upon blue water"
He used the pavement of the street
at such times as it did not rain-fol
promenadeo or smoking saloon when
it was wet, he betook himself to his
own room-a place which the children
soon learned to regard as the home OF
all unimaginable delights; and they
called him, after the first day, Ben,
by his special request. The last pipe
of the day Ben took in the first-flool
front, with the other new members ol
the party.
They were quiet pair. The man
about thirty years of age, looked older
by reason of the scattered gray hairs
in his full brown beard and the crows
feet round his eyes. Across his fore
head nature, or some trouble, had
drawn long deep line; the hair had
fallen from hs temples, leaving a wide
and open brow, his lips were flexible
and mobile, but they were hidden b,
hi. heavy mustache and beard; hi