Litchfield enquirer., 1880-08-12

what / should do with him."

| WHAT i SnOulu 90 VIII hltn. .t - -. ...
"What thing it is to be man I" said Miss
Pamela. 'How prompt, how vigorous, how
much to the point Pm afraid. though, we
should have difficulty about the sitting upon
him. He might struggle, you know" 'al.H3
Il think weinight manage, p observed Miss
| Penelope. suppose we had Prodder. the
gardener. ready behind The hall-tioor to throw
the blanket over his head, and then we could
push him into the CHI. a closet al the end of
the passage, and lock him up till assistance
| arrived"
Excellent, Penelope; nothing could be bet
ter. But what d frightful experience for two
defenceless- females ! Nay not so !Peter, i
beg your pardon. No longer. defenceless,
| since you are with us Ny gallant brother!"
$50, yes, Pm here; and I'm a-goingt to STOP"
said Peter. .,.. ftr.I .aa.s'9 -. ~ rs
| II must say admire bravery in a man."
said Miss Penelope. Happily, women don't
often need il. But there is no time to be lost
We had better have up the gardener at once"
No sooner said than done. The gardener
| was summoned, and was instructed as to the
duty expected of him. Mr.. Peter Pimpernel
and himself, each armed with large and
heavy blanket, were to stand one On each side
OF the door, and in the event (Which the sisters
appeared to regard as foregone conclusion)
OF visit from the lunatic, they were simulta-
neously to make sweep upon him with the
blankets, throw them over his head, and hus-
tie him into the china closet. Here, however,
an unexpected difficulty arose. Prodder
seemed to hesitate as to undertaking the re
quired duty. Miss Pamela's small fingers APP
peared to grow almost gigantic as she inGlir-
3D. with whitening scorn.-
''What, afraid, Prodder a man. and
afraid :" ~. ,.-tt' t5r.... - .a... j. ;'aI ne
''Well, no, mum, it amt exactly that; but
I'm always advocate for a mans a-sticking
to his spear. Always stick to your proper
spear, says l. Now it do strike me, axing
your pardin, ladies both, that happening of
lunatics is not exactly the proper spear of
| gardener. Fruit or vegetables or flowers. or
| even handy job about the house, don't say
nothin' of whatsomdever: but whenit comes
to lunatics, why, it amt line of dooty that
lays myself out for, and don't know that
i feel equal to undertaken of it,"
/ Here Prodder paused In shameful manner,
and rubbed his face pensively with the back
| of his hand. This last gesture was ray of
| light. The sisters knew that it always indi-
Gated extreme thirst.
81 understand you, Prodder," said Miss
Penelope, with cutting sarcasm. Perhaps
you would feel more equal to the occasion if
you were permitted to crafty your morbid
thirst for beer. Be it 50. Susan, draw jug
of beer-a largeijug."" " ' ~
!
Prodder frightened visibly. And remark
ing soto g0ce that it was rum start, p" but he
| 'wasn't nOways particular if there was a drop
O. somethln' hanging to it," he betook himself
| to the kitchen till his services should be re-
| quired, though with private conviction that
they were not likely to be wanted. In this
! however, he was doomed to be mistaken; for
scarcely had the two blankets been brought
| down stairs and placed in the hall, than rat
| tat-tat of a timorous and uncertain character
was heard at the front door. Miss Pamela
remarked that she should know that was lu-
/ natic's knock anywhere Peter and the gard
ener took up their positions in their respective
| corners and spread their blankets before them.
| The gardeners face wore its usual expression
| of beery apathy, as though capturing lunatics
| was as everyday All occupation as potting
| geraniums. Peters on the contrary wore an
expression OF mischievous amusement.
| Susan opened the door. A smart-looking ell
derry gentleman in white hat and waistcont
| and with a flower in his buttOnhole, said,
"This is the Misses Pimpernels think ?" and
stepped jauntily within the hall.
No sooner had he done so, however, than a
heavy blanket descended on him from either
| side, crushing his white hat down over his
| eyebrows. Susan opened the china closet
door, aud before the unhappy lunatic could
| even struggle to free himself he was hustled
violently therein and the door locked, leaving
| him in total darkness, with two blankets still
over his head ana crockery and household
stores on every side of him.
| admirably done !" said Miss Pamela, who,
with her sister, had been lying in ambush be-
| hind the drawing room door, beautifully
done! Susan, give PrOdder as much beer as
ever he likes Peter, you have done splendid
| ly. Embrace your sister my noble boy !"
| The noble boy embraced his sister accord
ingly, though without any appearance of en-
| thusiasnl.
land me also," said Penelope, taking off
her double eye-glass to receive Peters en-
brace, which was again delivered very calm
ly. ....... ...,. -..., .t. s.. .,..+,... e.. .
Meanwhile the captive in the china closet
| was struggling violently to free himself from
his embarrassing drapery, and apparently do
| ing considerable damage in his struggles to
| the contents of the shelves. Suddenly tre-
| nenduous crash was heard.
Good graciOus!" said Miss Penelope
'There goes the second best tea-service Dear,
dear ; and that must be the large jar of pick
led cabbage, The man will certainly kill
| himself. He'll have all that row of MARINA
| iade pots down on his head in a minute
What horrid language ..aa a., .,...~ ..5
The inmate of the cupboard had apparently
| by this time partially freed himself from his
blankets. and was kicking violently at the
door, mingling strong language in the vernacu-
| lar with eXclamations in some unknown
tongue
How sad to hear him 90 said Miss Pane
| la. daresay noble mind is here o'erthown.
And you see he has even lost the control of
his speech, and can only talk. that unintelligi7
BILE gbberish." ,...-.
''Lor, maan is that the lnnatic's language ?'
| EXCLAIMED Susan 80, amt it enough to make
your blood stand On end Pr. IT =, s',f. J..
Pamela, my dear" said Miss Penelope,
''come into the drawing room. I 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.. Dollimore at the ProrY, and tell
| him we have caught the lunatic, and will he
please send several strong men to fetch him
away at once, or we shant have a tea-cup left.
Come, Pamela! Why where's Peter Z"
Peter had vanished, but, was discovered in
the kitchen, drinking beer with MIR. Fodder
and listening with much apparent interest to
that gentietnan's description of new method
| of planting potatoes. HI was tenderly re-
| preached for his desertiOn, and carried off 30
1 the drawing room again, the door being care
| fully shut in order to exclude the imprison-
ed lunatic, who was still making frantic efforts
| to escape from durance. By way of further
covering the painful sound, Miss Pamela VOL
: uHtttISu w coue, anu SNVO uC L VI
| saken' with great effect; the only drawback
! being an unfortunate tendency to miss note
| altogether every now and then, giving a sort
of wheezy gasp instead, like a broken winded
accordion foit4.Jttas'u lssts}-a~t @ri no
H. 'sYou don't find my. voice what it was, L
daresay, Peter 2" said Miss Pamela, when she
| had concluded.
mo daresay it amt what it was, I" replied
Peter. 'sBut lor, we amt none of us what
AM xxyad -
''Will yow oblige, Peter p said Miss Pene-
| lope, little disappointed at this qualified
praise of her sisters performance. ''You used
to sing very nicely as boy. o, dear, what
noise that poor man makes" .-.,.,....F
Il only know one song, said Peter. cts
called Down in the Valley where the Daisies
grow Til sing you that, if you like p