The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-11-01

to be quite free from disease; "do you want
to blind me-to blow me away ~
"You tod w" tod" it. Uuclc Joseph -
"Shut the windows quick-draw the cur.
tains !'' groaned Uncle Joseph. Who's that
battering down the door,"
''1t's only a very gentle knocking, uncle
"Then Pm nervous. Go and see /"
Presently Theodore returned.
cts Major Crawford, uncle; he sends his
compliments and wishes 10 learn how you
are"
"Tell him to 60 to the deuce !"
| eyes, uncle"
SWELL" said Uncle Joseph, us his niece
returned TO his bedside after II mom"ntary
| absence, what did he say2
ale seemed very much offended, uncle"
offended at what, pray ?" demanded
| Uncle Joseph.
81 suppose at being told to 60 to the
deuce! ~ answered Theodore, quietly
"Grl y calculated the invalid, raising
himself halfway upon his elbow you
didn't tell him that p
Eyes, did, uncle. You said yourself,
Tell him to go to the dcuce''
Mr. Joseph White fell back, flat and mo-
tionless, among his pillows.
"Tbeodora, you are a fool !"
Il am very sorry, uncle" said Theodore,
beginning 30 whimper.
Uncle Joseph stared at her in surprise.
Could it be possible that the dreary days
and weeks of her steadfast attendance had
weakened her intellect and turned her
brain2
"Give me my water-gruel," he said brief
ly, after u few moments bordering over the
unwelcome possibility.
Theodore brought in a neat little china
bowl, with a silver spoon lying on the
snowy napkin that tlanked it on the tray.
Uncle Joseph took one taste and threw
down the spoon with petulant sound not
unlike a bark
Trash trash Insipid as dishwater.-
Throw it to the pigs !"
Theodore took up the bowl and started
obediently for the door.
"Here here !" roared Uncle Joseph,
"where are you going to ?"
"To the pig pen, uncle"
care you crazy, girl? The gruels well
enough, only Mrs. Perkins forgot the nut
meg"
"But, uncle" said Theodore, tasting
daintily of the contents of the bowl, cts
insipid as dishwater."
twill you allow me to have an opinion
of my own ?" snarled Uncle Joseph. ats
very good, if that old crone down stairs
will add the nutmeg and give it another
boil. Quick now-I'm getting hungry A
man must eat, il he's at deaths door"
A minute afterwards Mrs. Perkins was
surprised by Theodora's entrance.
"Well," said the housekeeper, whats
awantin' now?'
"A little grated nutmeg in this cruel,
and uncle would like it warmed up once
more"
"What are you smiling about?'
"Was I smiling ?"
"Your eyes were, if your mouth WASN'T
said Mrs. Perkins, keenly.
"Will you be as quick as you can, Mrs.
Perkins 2" said Theodore. He says he is
hungry"
But when Theodore re-entered her I'M
ces room, the invalid had taken another
track.
"Why didn't you stay all day." he
growled.
'Indeed, uncle, l hurried all could"
pleaded Dora. Heres the gruel all smok-
ing"
But Uncle Joseph shook his head.
"It's too late; I've lost all my appetite !"
he moaned.
won't you have the Cruel, uncle 2"
mo; I won'tw
And Uncle Joseph closed his eyes, as if
to signify he was too weak to debate the
question further. He waited anxiouslv
for Theodore to press the question further,
but she did not; and presently he opened
his eyes the least little bit in the world
"Theodora !"
"Sir9"
"I'll try just one spoonful of that Cruel
before it gets cold"
"Why, uncle; I threw it way"
"Threw-my-g ruel-away!" gasped the
sick man breathlessly.
You told me you did not want it UNI
cle."
81 told you so! Furies and fiddle
strings You might know by this time
that | don't mean what | say Get me
some more quick If hadn't been bed
ridden for a year, could go twice as fast
as you do !" he added, grumbinglg. 81
never saw such snail in my life Oh,
dear to think | shall never walk again !"
Uncle Joseph lay counting the seconds
until his niece brought in a second bowl
ofgruel, this time so deliciously made that
even he could not find fault with it.
Uncle" said Theodore, as she set it on
the table by the bedside, "the doctor said
yesterday that lie really thought, if you
were to try, you could walk as well as any
body!"
THE doctors fool" said Uncle Joseph,
"and you may tell him so with my compli-
ments!"
at ,,,l In l,o
"Theodora !"
"Sirm
'If you do, I'll dsnherit your'
Every well, uncler'
"Theodora, you'll have to feed me-
This annoyance has weakened me terri
BLY,"
Eyes, uncle"
"Stop-stop-it's hot--you'rc choking
me !"
But Theodore kept resolutely on.
"Sto-op !" spluttered uncle Joseph, MIN
bly, scrambling to the other side of the bed
"What do you mean, Theodore Didn't
I tell you to stop? | don't believe there's
an inch of skin left on my throatm
you told me yourself, uncle, that you
don't mean what you say. How was | to
know that this was an exception ?"
An irate rejoinder trembled on Uncle
Joseph's tongue, when suddenly he caught
sight of blue column of smoke wreathing
up under his window.
"Whats that smoke ?" he calculated.
81 think it's Mrs. Perkins, sir, putting
fresh kindlngs on the kitchen fire."
mo, it isn't" yelled Uncle Joseph,
"the house is on fire !"
Theodore dropped the spoon and bowl,
and rushed out of the room, shrieking
"the house is on fire! helpl murder
thieves !"
The servants below stairs caught up the
cry and echoed it in shril dismay. Uncle
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