Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-19

ly by this time partially freed himself from
his blankets and was kicking violently at the
door, mingling strong language in the YER
nacular with exclamations in s)me unknown
tongue.
"IIow sad to hear him I" said Miss Pamela
II daresay a noble mind is here o'erthrown.
Aud you see he has even lost the control of
his speech and can only talk that unintellgi-
bic gibberish."
"Lor, maam, is that the lunatic's Ian
guageI p exclaimed Susan 80, amt il
enough to make your blood stand on end !"
Pamela, my dear" said Miss Penelope,
"come into the drawing room. / am very
sure this is not the kind Of language (even
though, fortunately, We cannot understand it,
for your innocent ears And you, Susan,
run across to Dr. Dollimoro at the Priory, and
tell him we have caught the lunatc and will
him away at once, or we shan't have tea
cup left. Come, Pamela Why, where's Pc
ter 2"
Peter had vanished, but was discovered in
the kitchen, drinking beer with Mr.. Prodder
aud listening with much apparent interest to
that gentleman's description of new method
of planting potatoes. He was tenderly re-
preached for his desertion, and carried of to
the drawing room again, the door being care
fully shut in order TO exclude the rawlings Of
the imprisoned lunatic, who was still making
frantic efforts to escape from durance. BY
way Of further covering the painful sound
Miss Pamela volunteered to sing a song, and
gave '"1hc Forsaken" with great effect tho
only drawback being an unfortunate tendency
to miss a note altogether every now and then,
giving a sort of wheezy gasp instead, like Il
broken winded accordion.
1. q 4 ia
daresay, Peter :" said Miss Pamela, when she
had concluded.
mo, daresayit amt what it was, " replied
Peter. but lor, we amt none of us what
we was. Anyhow we don't keep So.
"Will y0u oblige, Peter?' said Miss Pene-
lope. a little disappointed at this qualified
praise Of her sisters performance. You used
TO sing very nicely as boy. o, dear, what
n noise that poor man makes
Il only know one song said Peter. ITS
called Down in the Valley where the Daisies
grow I'll sing you that, if you like =
Accordingly Peter seated himself at Tia" pi-
ano. His attitude was peculiar He placed
himself astride OF the music stool as if it had
been horse, his legs dangling down on either
side. He then began to sing with thin
cracked voice, and with a noble iudepend-
ence of time aud tune, at the same time ac-
himself with one finger. When
he got to tho end of the first verse he sang it
right through again and was about to do 50
the third time, when Miss Penelope. whose
nerves were unequal to the continued strain
upon them, mildly suggested:
My dear Peter surely you have sung that
verse already
"Well and what if | have Z" said Peter,
somewhat offended. "Itsayery pretty verse,
Amt it:'
Miss Penelope was scarcely prepared for
this view Of the matter.
well, certainly" she began
But the sentence was doomed never to be
There was gentle tap at the
door, and Susan entered, saying:
Please ma'Gm, gentleman from the 'sy-
luin."
She was followed by thick-set good. tenn
pered looking man in gray tweed suit, who
nodded famliarly to the supposed Peter PIN
perncl.
Servant, ladies, aud much obliged to you
for lendin' hand in recapturing this troub-
lesome wormint Of ours. You're a artful dog,
Simmons. now, amt yerE'
Miss Pamela drew herself up to her full
height (of four feet threc) and looked dag
gers at the rash speaker.
"lSir ," she said in tone like the cello
brated whisper of Mrs. Siddous, you are
under some extraordinary mistake. This is
Mr.. Peter Pimpernel, our brother, who has
Just returned from India The unhappy per-
son Of whom you are in search is locked up
in our chiua-closet. In fact, you can hear
him now
The keeper looked from one to another in
blank anazement
There's a pair on en-, them But, axing
your pardon, ladies, if there's mistake in
the case it's on your side. That chaps name
amt Pimpcrnel, nor yet Peter His name is
Samuel Simmons, and till he went off his
head about two years ago. he KEEP cheese
shop in the Tottenham- court-road.
And he's one of the artfullest loonies we've
got This is the third time he has escaped
but he never goes further than the first place
where be can get something to eat and drink.
Come, Simmons own up; and tell the ladies'
you've been making fools Of en-. Long lost
brother, indeed Why, he'd pretend lie was
anybody brother, if there was anything to be
got by it,
The supposed Peter Pimpernel stood with
his thumb in his mouth looking sheepishly at
the warder.
1T wasn't my fault, Mr.. Bradbury. It was
them as did it, They stuffed me up as | was
their long-lost brother, and didn't see had
any call to say different. But l amt done
nothing
Here the victim of mistaken identity began
to cry.
Miss Penelope pressed her handkerchief to
her eyes.
20, Pamela, what cruel deception How
ever shall we survive It =
O, we shall survive it fast enough, said
Miss Pamela, who was somewhat quick tenn
pered aud whose first feeling was that of ex-
III
full thought strikes me. If this is the lunatic,
whom have we got in the china closet?'
Can it be-" shrieked Miss Penelope.
''Ycs, Pamela, it must. Can he ever forgive
us? Our real long-lOst brother comes to us
after twenty years absence, and We throw
blanket over his head and put him in cup
board
Hadn't you better let him out, then,
lna'am 2" suggested the keeper. The gen
tleman don't seem to take kindly to the ac-
provided for him, and when
you come to think of it, perhaps it is little
trying to the feelings"
This person is right, Pamela, said Miss
Penelope. The door certainly ought to be
opened but who is to do it? must own l
could never meet our brothers justly offend
ed gaze under such circumstances.
"Lor, ma'am, don't let that trouble YOU"
hAlu bIuubuIg. II bptu II WIN IltuSuAS'
He did so accordingly, revealing a perfect
chaos of blankets, tea-trays, preserve pots,
and broken crockery, from the midst of which
rushed out the imprisoned inmate, his hair
his hat awry, his coat torn his
swollen, and his whole frame work
ing with excitement His unconscious per
senator Simmons, was the first person he
caught sight of. He made frantic rush at
him, caught him by the collar, and began
shaking aud pummelling him furiously, at
the same time using what appeared to be
bad language in some foreign
tongue, till the victim was rescued by the
strong arm of Mr.. Bradbury.
Come, l say, sir, you'n addle him worse
than he's added already, which 'ud be pity,
goodness knows. There's been a bit of mis-
take, but shaking won't mend it. However,
if you want to shake anybody, shake me :"
The invitation was well-meant but from
the relative size and strength of the two men,
it was like inviting very small terrier to
shake a very big bull dog. Profting by the