New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-11-19
UNDERGRADUATES AUNT.
BYE. ANsTEY. AUTHOR or "vIcE VERSA

Frederick
and in doing conferred upon y one u VI. ns os
distinctions II could boast-nalhciy, ' noIa mi
sessins the very bashtucst man in 'ho ""o'0 W.T.
Rnt his college did not treat HIM with ANY excess
of adnlation ON that account. probaOiy lruui ~
dent fear OF rubbing the bloom oil ms muu.S,I
Ia aiiowed him TO blush unsecn-whlch was tho
condition in which he preferred 10 oiusa: &c ;,ao.
Ho felt himself oppressed by paucty OF lHen a.;
and n a I'M, ulty in knowing which way 10 iooK ~
rhe presence OF his fellow men, when nlauo mn
never SO halpy rs when he had fastened hls ou!oi
door aud secured himself from all possan, % re
caution for nobody ever Thought Oh coming W ''o
In appearance he was a man of middle height,
with 1dng scrarny neck and large head, which
gave him the all OF being much shorter thah III,
really was; he had little weak eyes. d h"9o h anu
month of no particular shape and very snootti nan
of no definite color. He had IL tllnld deprecattins
mir hich seemed cue to the CONSCIOUSNESS tIhs ~
was an unin;ercstng anomaly. a'i no o.' r his
was "a impervous to the ordinary inrnence O nus
suronudinQs a. any undergraduate wen couih 10.
lie lived n colorless. aimcss life III ms Htto roois
under the roof. reading every morning IRON nlno
t,ll tvs with superstitiOusly mechanical regu-
tarity' thungh very often his books competely
failed 10 convey any IDEAS whatever u MS o'a'n'
which was not a particularly powerful organ. a.
If the afternoon was tine. he generally soushl
ont ms ono friend, who was lew degrees less erS
than himself and they went nohoSy,aao,U van m
tbe inion. and ia the evenings after hail he stud
led general literature = graceful term ioi moves
or laboriously spelt out Il sonata uron ms piano.
Tnptrn,t"lv for TIushington, he nal no gyp. or
his life might have bccn made positive olrueu W
him and with his bcdmaker he was rather u Ia
yori.e as a gentleman what gave no trOuoie
meaning that when he observed his sherry unac-
Countabiy sinking, like the water III a lock "heu
the sluiccs are up Flushngton was too delicate TO
refer TO the phenomenon.
He was sitting one afternoon over Els houesV
lupch of bread and butter. ported meat aud lemon,
ade when all al once he heard SOUND OF uiiusuhi
voices and a strange huttcr OF dresses coming up
the wlnding stone staircase OUTSIDE, anu was Au-
+i,,a al I'D Twill pOlI ii
There was no particular reason Tor belhg
alarmed, although there were certainly lauIes
mounting tho stcps-prObably they were irienuS UI
PEOPLE up. But still Flushngton had that odd
preSentimsnt which nervous peopie nave soni 70
them. and he half rose from his ehair 10 smut HIS
II was TOO late: the dresses were rusling row in
hi very pasSage-there was pause q lew faint
smoihered laughs. ana little feminine coughS-tben
two t1rs at the door. ., =,
he haa h, en- reading ANYTHING but the work by NJ
Zoa which was popped mp IN 'front.' OF nun. IL IL
your mild man who frequently has taste Tor SEE
ing the less reputable side Of life in this second
hand wav, and FlUshIngtun wonld toll manini'y
through the volumlnous pages, h1htlhg up every
third word in the dictionary: with sense OF III
Jury when. ms often the case, 1t was not 10 oc
found still there sort OF intellectual orele
abont It Which bad strong fascnatIons Tor hun.
white he knew enough OF the language to he
aware when tho incidents approached the inn
proper. though he was not always abe 10 SEQ
The door opened, and his heart seemed to stop
and all the blood rushed violently TO his head as
large lady came eweepng 10. her lace ilppllhS
with broad smile of Affection
She Mortified Flushngton. who knew nobody
with the least claim TO smile at hun SO expansively
as that be drank lemonade to conceal MS cohlu-
You don't know me- my dear Fred !" che said
EASILY. OF course not-hOw should your Pm
ior goodness sake. Inv dear hoy, don't look 80
terribly frightened! I'm your aunt-your aunt
Amelia. come over from Austraha?
l,..n1yxr FgsrD
Tad not even known he possessed such a.roiatlNc;
T. could only say 'Ohi' which he felt even then
Ias scarcely n warm greeting to give an aunt from
'0h, but she added cheerily, that's not al Eve
another surprise Tor YOU the dear girls would insist
on coming up too. To see their grand college
cousin they're just outside. III call them IN
In another second Flushington's small room was
ovcrrun by horde OF female relatives, while he
looked Oh gaSpng. 49,
that was all the more dreadful to him LIS did not
mind The palmer ones half so much; cOmblna-
tion of beauty and intellect reduced him TO a con-
dition of absolute imbecilty.
He was once caught and introduced to charm
ing young lady from Newman, and all he could
do was to back feebly into a corner and muniur
THANK YOU repeatedly
He was very little better than that then as his
aunt singled out one girl after another. We wont
nave any formal nonsense between cousins she
said won know them all by name already, dare
say-ths is Mly that's Jane. here's Flora and
Kitty and Margaret, and that's my little Thom-
Poor Washington ducked blindy ia the direction
OF each and then to them all collectively; he had
not presence of II ind to offer them chaIS or cake,
or anything, and besides. there was not nearly
enough Of anything for all Of them.
Meanwhile his aunt had spread herself comfort
ably ont ~ mis- armchair. and was untylng her
bonnet strings and bearing at him until he was
ready to expire with confusion. do think. she
observed at last that, when an Ola aunt all the
way from Australia takes the trouble to come and
BEE you like this you might spare her just one kiss
Washington dared not refuse; he tottered up and
kissed her somewhere about the face after which
ne did not know which way to look. he so ter
rIbly afraid that he sht have to go through the
zane cerer ony with the cousins, which he simply
could moi have survived.
Uappiiy for him. they did not appear TO expect it,
and he balanced chair on its hind legs and. rest
ing one knee upon it. waited patiently for them to
begin "a conversation: he could not have uttered
The aunt came to his rescue: 'You don't ask
after Your uucle Samuel who used to send you the
beetles 7 she said reprOvingy.
NO. SAID Washington. who had forgotten uncle
Samuel and his beetles too; no. no" is uncle
only tolerably so, thank you, Fred; you SEQ, he
never got over his great loss
NO said Flushngton desperately. OF course
not; il IA large SUN Of money to lose all at
once
Il was not referring to money said she, with
slight touch of stoniness in her manner; / was
abiding to the death of your cousin john
Washington had fclt himself getting on rather
for Inc could not recoilcct having heard of cousin
John before-threw him of his balance again he
COLLAPSED IN SIcnCo OHcc inNdIQIy resolving
20 be luIed into no more questions concerning rela-
tiycs
His ignorance seemed to have aroused pathetic
seutinents in his aunt Il ought to have known
she SAID shaking her head. they'd soon forget us
IN the old country; here's my own sisters son. and
he doesn't remember his cousins death. Well.
we'll now we're here. we must see II we can't know
one another little better. Fred. you must take
:he girls aud me everywhere and show us every
thing. like good nep hew, you know
Flushington had horrible mental vision OF him
self careeling about all Cambridge. followed by
long procession OF female relatyes-a fearful pos
sibility TO so shy man. 'Shall you be here longP
re asked.