The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-09-01

from him was the removal OF Tue ophoAlous
board Instead of it he placed a neat iron
| railing round his property, inclosing just
| thirty feet by fifteen. Such was the status
in quo on this morning, and with it the Dean
had for some time been obliged to rest con-
| tent
And vet, sooth to say, the greatest pleas
ure of the very reverend gentleman's HE
was gone with this accession to the round
| ness and fullness of Mr.. SwainSon's. No
more with the thorough satisfaction of hith-
| erto could he conduct the American trav-
eler through the ancient crypt, or dilate
| upon the beauty of the quaint gargoyles TO
| the Marquis of Bicester's visitors. No; in
deed, that railed-in spot was plague-spot
| to him, eyer itching, aneye-sore even when
| invisible, a thing to be evaded and lodged
| and given the slip, as a Dean who is Dean
| should scorn to evade anything mortal. He
| WINGED at the mere thought that the inquls-
| tive sight-seer might touch upon it, might
| probe the matter with questions. he hur-
| ried him past it with averted finger and
| voluble tongue, nor recovered his air of
| kindly condescenSion, or polished ease, las
| the case might be) until he was safe within
his own hall. Only in moments of forget
| fulness could the Dean now walk in his own
Close of Bicester with that easy grace of
old times. II t.. t''''
But on this particular morning the sun
shine was so pleasant, the wind so balmy,
that he walked halfway across the Close
as if the River of Lethe flowed fathoms
deep over Mr.. Swainson's plot; then it
CHANGED that his eyes in aheedless moment
rested upon it, and he saw that a man was
at work in the tiny Enclosure, and he
paused. The Dean knew Mr.. Swanson by
this time, and did not trust him. What
was this? By the mans side lay a small
heap of grayish-white things, and he was
holding a short-handled mallet, and was
using it deftly to drive one of the grayish-
sY,fn Ia Et.nrp inn
the Deans eyes travelled TO a couple of
parti-colored sticks, one at each end of the
plot. What was this? A horror so terrible
that the Dean stood still, and that remark
able change came over him which we have
described.
Great men rise to the occasion. 1t was
only moment he stood thus and looked.
Then he turned and walked rapidly back to
house he had just passed. tall thin
man was standing upon the steps, with the
ghost of a smile upon his face. For mo-
ment the Dean could only stammer. 1t was
such a dreadful outrage.
ais that" he said at last, sis that there,
sir, being done by your authOrityW With
shaking finger he pointed to Mr.. Swain
sons plot. The tall man in a leisurely
manner settled pair of eyeglasses upon
his nose and looked in the direction indi-
Gated.
''Ah, see what you mean," he said at
IdSJ, WIFI uclltlOuS cOOlnGSS. CGGUdlnlY,
Mr. Dean, certainly"
"Are you aware, sir what it is"' gasped
the clergyman; it is sacrilege!"
"Pooh, nothing of the kind, | assure you,
my dear sir. It's croquet."
The tone was one of explanation, and
there was such an air of franlness, of put
ting an end to an unfounded error, that the
veins upon the Deans temples swelled, and
his face grew, if possible, redder than
before.
81 won't stay to handy words with
''Bandyw cried the tall man, intensely
amused. cha ha ha! you thought it was
hoclly! Bandy! o, no, you play it with
hoops and mallet Drive the balls
And to the intense delight of the Close
people, nine-tenths of whom were at their
windows, Mr.. Swanson executed an I'M
calmly kind of gambade~ upon the steps.
"Disgusting, the Dean called it afterward,
when talking to sympathetic ears. Nowhe
merely put it away from him with a wave
of the hand
81 will not discuss itnow, Mr.. Swanson.
If your own feelings of decency and of
what is right and proper do not forbid this
this rihald profanity-I can call it moth
ing else, sir-I have but one word to add.
The Chapter shall prevent it.''
"The Chapterw replied the other in
to savagenesS as he continued, ''you are
well read in history, Mr.. Dean, they tell
me. Doubtless you remember what hap
pened when the puisant King Canute babe
the tide come no further. [ am the tide
and you and the Chapter sit in the chair of
Canute."
The Dean, it must be confessed, was a
little taken aback by this terrible defiance.
lie was amazed. The two glared at one
another and the clergyman was the first to
give way; baf1ed and disconnected, vet
still swelling with rage, he strobe toward
the Deanery. His antagonist followed him
with his eyes, then looked more airily than
ever at his plot and the progress being
made there, considered the weather with
his chin at the decanal angle, and, with a
fiirt of his long coat tails, went into the
house, happy man and the owner of a
vastly improved appetite.
But the Dean had more to go through vet.
At the door of his garden he ran in his
haste against some one coming out. Or
dinarily, great man as he was, he was also
gentleman. But this was too much
That, when the father had insulted him,
the son should almost PROSTATE him on his
own threshold, was intolerable-at any rate
at moment when he was smarting with
the sense of unacknowledged defeat.
"Dood morning, Mr.. Dean" said the
| young fellow, raising his hat with an evil
| dent desire to please that was the very an
| tlpodes of his sire's manner-only the Dean
| was in no mood to discriminate-''I have
just been having very pleasant game of
| croquet."
1t is greatly to be regretted, but here
| short hiatus in the narrative occurs. The
| minor canons, than whom no men are more
| wanting in reverence, say that the Deans
answer consisted of two words, one of them
very pithy, very full of meaning, but in
the mouth of Dean, however choleric, i'm
| possible-perfectly impossible. Account
ing this as gloss, and the original reading
not being forthcoming, we are driven to
conjecture that the Deans answer ex-
pressed mild disapprobation of the game of
croquet Certain it is that young Swain
son surprised doubtless at so novel and
original sentiment, only said:
- beg your pardon"
Hem! | mean TO say that | do not an
prove of this. | will come to the point. |
must ask you to discontinue your visits at
my house" The young man stared as if
| he thought the excited divine had gone
mad; the Deanery was almost home to
him. Your father" the Dean went on
more coherently, "has taken a step so I'M
seemly, $3.50 indecent has used language
SO insulting to me, sir, that cannot, at any
rate at present, receive you here"
Young Swanson was a gentleman, and
moreover, for very good reason herein
after appearing, the Dean failed to anger
! him. He raised his hat as respectfully aa
before, bowed slightly in token of acaries-
cence, and went on his way sorrowfuliy.