Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-03-04
cetve her. and she could now come as soon as


InaI l found Jou-1ou, the female bird, lying
dead upon the floor. My first idea was that 1t
was mean piece OF vengeance upon Jack 8
Indignantly.
~ IN not such brute as you seem to think,
| Madge,n he said. 81 don't like the birds, but
! wouldn't hurt feather OF their tails Look
here. though as he poked out with the point OF
! Ills penknife something that had lodged In the
! tiny beak Here is what did the mischief
| of poetic Justice
1t was tiny bit of red wafer which he held
out for me to examine, and OF course had to
acknoW ledge that 1t alone had caused the catas-
| tropbe. buried my little pet mournfully and
Thought OF bringing another TO replace her, but
JACK put ms veto upon any such proceeding.
! liness."
Let him" said Jack, savagely. and that was
all.
Well, BlIou didn't die OF loneliness On the
contrary, after rejecting on the situation for a
/ lew days, he plucked up heart and launched
nlmself into such toTreat OF rollick1ng song
mat JACK was more frantic than ever. Not even
tne melancholy sight or the Destful OF cold little
! blush speckled eggs seemed to dash his gayety
In the least. To tell the truth. was slightly
! disguised Though would have died before
| would have told Jack SOY for. try as might,
could not persuade that that triumphant,
rollicklng. gurgling song bore the slightest re-
| Semblance TO wall Of despair.
We saw Uncle Philip tOlerably often, though
| ne no longer statd with us. noticed, however.
that lie could with difficulty be persuaded to
:
| b jou's singing. which penetrated the closed
| doors, made him start and vince in manner
which was simply absurd, though he never said
| anything.
We were in daily expectation of Aunt
| ClaItce's arrival, the date Of which was not
! quite certain, and she was staying with friends
who continually urged her TO prol0ng her visit.
! After the day for her coming to US had been
three times fixed and so often postponed, 1
made up my mind not to expect her until saw
her. Consequently had dismissed all thoughts
or her from my MIND.
was sitting at my sewing one morning,
In the parlor, who declined to send up her
name
IAN agent. no doubt said. 81 wish you
had asked her business. Jane. But no matter:
case"
| SO sewed on TRANQUILITY until had finished
the piece OF work on which was engaged, and
then ran down stairs, humming b1ltne little
tune as / went. / never finished that tune,
though; for the first thing my eyes fell upon In
sitting demuTeiy in the hall chair, but with no
very demur expression upon her face. On the
contrary, 1t was much agtated and dis
neVeiled Aunt Clarice upon whom loOked-an
Aunt Clarice who appeared equally divided be-
tween tears and indignation, and who met my
astonished gaze with one full OF Wrathful mean
Dear Aunt Clarice!" 1 cried. "Who ever
dreamed or seeing you to-day? Why In the
world Gldn't you go into the parlor even II
thing
grimly; Its not her fault She took me In
there fast enough; but If people VIII turn their
parlors into menagerle5, they can hardly expect
their friends to stay In them"
"Menageries! Dear Aunt Clarlce," I cried, Il
never thought yOu would mind poor Biiou too
You're as bad as Uncle Philip"
Aunt Clarice turned slightly red ''It that's
your idea OF b1ou,' she SAID, 81 have no more
n ora hnr Il horh op
1ngS as II she meditated instant flight
But. dear Aunt Clarice," 1 cried, don't be
SO frightened | was just going to shut him
81 should think So, said Aunt Clarfce) but
L never knew that you minded birds so much"
Bids, said Aunt Ciarlce, with an indie
very much-such birds as this; birds that walk
on Jour legs, and wag their tails, aud make
grabs at your ankles"
AUNT Clarice, cried. ats Hero that you
mean-Jack's great, hoIrid dog Do you mean
to say that he Is In the parlor? On, dear! what
shall 90? Jack says that there Is no harm In
MN, nut ne always dances and grins at US So
How shall we ever get him out, for neither Jane
nor dare touch him?"
Aunt Clarlee had relaxed slightly when She
found that l had nothing to do with Hero's
presence IN the par.0r, and now she began to
laugh.
Don't trouble yourself about getting him
OUT, she said. He Is safe enough there, for
shut the door upon him. He kept quiet until
Jane had gone, but as soon "a | was left quite
alone and unprotected he foundered out from
un9er the very sofa that l was sitting upon,
aud danced and grinned at me, unit, fairly
TOOK TO my heels. Now I'll go up stairs and
take my things off,"
Jack only laughed when complained to him
Of hero's escapade said that as my pet had the
run or his study 1T was only fair that his should
have the run OF the rest OF the house. He post
tively refused to chaln him. or even to keep MIN
In the yard and cellar as imploreJ him TO do
II only On Aunt Clarice's account.
NO, no." he said my relations have had
their turn; II is time that yours took their share
noW."
OF course when Hero had once found his way
up 81 airs there was an end OF e7erything. Moth
lug won q induce him to stay down after That.
IL is my Dellef that he had found out some way
OF Wormng himself through key-holes, for no
amount of locking and barring would keep him
OUT The worst OF II was that he took a violent
fancy TO Aunt Clarice Or rather am inclined
to think that he found her irresistibly teasab;e.
and was deep and artful enough to pretend a
urn confidence In her fondneSS and admiration
IoI MN. At all events, wherever Aunt Clarice
was, Hero was sure to be somewhere near. IL
sne sat down upon sofa, Hero Wriggled out
from under 1t; If She entered room Hero
bounced at her from behind the door: nay, he
even Secreted himself under her bed at night
for the express purpose OF coming out In the
small hours, and Weakening her by the contact
OF his cold wet nose and his warm wet tongue
After she had twice aroused the whole house.
| hold by her wild shrieks at these uncanny
Vlslts, Aunt Clarice mildly but firmly an
Dounced her determination.
My dear Madge," She said, 81 am very fond
OF you; am fond OF Jack too; but really a man
VINO keeps such wild beast about his house is
nt only for Bedlam. l can't expect you to turn
MIN Out for me- SO have decided to turn nv
sell out for him. am not quite ready to 90
nome yet, so have taken board for few weeks
! Wnere shall be quite comfortable"
JACK only laughed, aud said, ",Tlt for tat
Wnen ne heard OF Aunt Clarice's departure He
iaughed still more when. on comparing notes
we found that she and Uncle Philip were now
Inhabitants OF the same boarding house In 9th
Street-a curious coincidence, certainly but NOT
worth going into Mysteries about. It really
seemed as II Jack would never get over it.
Every now and then, during the whole evening
ne would suddenly throw himself back kick uD
MS heels In the most undtgnlt1ed manner, and
roar. When asked him his reason for such
behavior, he would say only, ''Uncle Philip and
Aunt Clarice.-ho! no. ho." And for DAYS the
mention or either name would bring most alb
surd and d1abOlical grin to his face which was
handsome enough one In general,
III.
1t was rather curious | thought that since
Aunt Clarlce had LETT us so abruptly We had
seen nothing either Of her or OF Uncle PnIltn
although more than week had passed. Aunt
Clai1ce WaS always out-Or 80 the servant said
When ! called; and as for her, she had never
once crossed our threshold since that unlucky
day.
was just expressing my feelings upon the
SUBJECT 10 Jack, with Bijou hopping about the
carpet at my feet, when the doOr-bell rang, ana
Jane brought In the mornings mail. There was