Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-01-26
AN UNDERGRADUATEs AUNT


BY F. ANsrEY, AUTHOR OF "vIcE VERSA"
Frederick Flushington belonged to small
college, and in doing so conferred upon it
one OF the few distinctions it could boast
namely that Of possessing the very bashful-
est man in the whole University.
He felt himself oppressed by paucity of
ideas, and difficulty in knowing which way
to look in the presence of his fellow-men
which made him never SO happy as when he
had fastened his outer door and secured him
self from all possibility of intrusion though
it was an almost unnecessary precaution, for
nobody ever thought Of coming to sec Flush
ington.
In appearance he was a man of middle
height, with q long, scraggy neck, and a
large head, which gave him the air Of being
much shorter than he really was he had lit.
tie weak eyes, q nose and a mouth of no par
tcular shape, and worry smooth hair Of no
definite color. He had timid, deprecatng
air, which seemed due to the consciousness
that he was an uninteresting anomaly, and
he certainly was as impervious to the ordina-
ry influence of his surroundings as any un-
dergraduate well could be. He lived color.
less. aimless life, in his little rooms under the
roof, reading every morning from nine till
two, with superstitously mechanical regu-
larity, though very often his books complete
ly failed to convey any ideas whatever to his
brain, which was not particularly powerful
organ.
II the afternoon was fine, he generally
sought out his one friend, who was a few
degrees less shy than himself, and they went
monosyllabc walk together or, if it was
wet, he read the papers ut the Union, and in
the evenings after hall he studied General
Literature "A graceful term for novels-or
laboriously spelt out sonata upon his piano
"a habit which did not increase his popu.
larty.
Fortunately for Flushington, he had no
gyp, or his life might have been made pos
tive burden to him, aud with his bed maker
he was rather favorte as gentleman who
gave no trouble" meaning that when he OBJ.
served his sherry unaccountably sinking, like
the water in lock when the sluices are up,
Flushington was zoo delicate to refer to the
phenomenon.
He was sitting one aft irnoon over his mod
est lunch of bread and butter, potted meat and
lemonade, when all at once he heard a sound
Of unusual voices, aud a strange hutter Of
dresses coming up tho winding stone stair
case outside, and was instantly seized with a
cold dread.
There was no particular reason for being
alarmed, although there were certainly ladies
mounting the steps-probaby they were
friends OF the man opposite, who was always
having his people up. But still Flushington
had that odd presentiment which nervous
people have sometimes that something un.
pleasant is on its way to them, and he half
rose in his chair to shut his outer door
II was too late the dresses were rustliug
now in his very passage-there was pause
few faint smothered laughs and little fem
inine coughs-then two taps at the door.
Come in" cried Flushngton family he
wished he had been reading anything but the
workby NJ. Zola which was propped up in front
of him. 1t is your mild man who frequ ent
ly has taste for seeing the less reputable side
Of life in this secondhand way, and Flush
ington would toll msnfully through the vol
luminous pages, hunting up every third word,
in the dictionary, with a sense Of injury,
when, as was often the case, it was not to be
found. Still, there was sort of intellectual
orgie about it which had strong fascinations
for him, while he knew enough of the Ian.
guage to be aware when the incidents reach
ed the improper, though he was not always
able to see quite clearly in what this impro-
priety consisted.
The door opened, and his heart seemed to
stop beating, and all the blood rushed vio-
lently to his head, as a large lady came sweep
ing in, her face ripping with broad smile of
affection.
She Mortified Flushington, who knew no.
body with the least claim to smile at him so
e1pansvely as that; he drank lemonade to
conceal his confusion.
"You don't know me, my dear Fred ?" she
said easily. "Of course not-how should
you? pm-for goodness sake my dear boy,
don't look so terribly frightened! I'm your
aunt-your aunt Amelia, come over from
Australia !"
The shock was severe one to Flushing
ton, who had not even known he possessed
such relative he could only say, "Oh /"
which he felt even then was scarcely a warm
greeting to give an aunt from the Antpodes.
"Oh, but, she added cheerily, "that's not
all I've another surprise for you; the dear
girls would insist on coming up too to see
their grand college cousin; they're just out
side I'll call them-shall II"
In another second Flushngton's small room
was overrun by horde Of female relatives
while he looked on gaspng.
They were pretty girls, too, many of them /;
but that was all the more dreadful to him he
did not mind the palmer ones half 30 much
a combination of beauty and intellect always
reduced him to a condition of absolute imbe-
cility.
He was once caught and introduced to a
charming young lady from Newman, and
hll ne oOulu 10 WAS 10 DICK IeeDly into COT
ner and murmur, THANK you, repeatedly
He was very little better than that, then,
as his aunt singled out one girl after another.
"We won't have any formal nonsense between
cousins" she said; "You know them all by
name, already, l dare say. This is Mily,
that's Jane, here's Flora and Kitty, and Mar
garet, and that's my little Thomssina over
there by the bookcase"
Poor Flushington duoked blindly in the di-
rection of each, and then to them all, collec-
lively he had not presence of mind to offer
them chairs or cake, or Anythingi and be-
sides, there was not nearly enough of any
thing for them all.
Meanwhile his aunt had spread herself
comfortably out in his arm chair, and was un-
tying her bonnet strings and beaming at him
until he was ready to expire with confusion.
81 do think" she observed at last, "that,
when an old aunt all the way from Australia
takes the trouble TO come and see you like
this, you might spare her just one kiss !"
Flushington dared not refuse he tcttered
up and kissed her somewhere about the face,
after which he did not know which way to
look, he was so terribly afraid that he might
have 10 go through the same ceremony with
the cousins, which he simply could not have
survived.