Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-09-23


SQUAD bore evidence that some inward
disturbance was taking place.
The binding" he croaked at last
" the good gentleman objects 10 the bind
ing. / assure him the binding ia most
uncommon end costly beyond anything
OF the sort ever met with" "All right
! thought TO myself, ego on-pile il up
It's quite evident that he's going 10 ask
something quite beyond my means, the
lying old impootor. "In fact. he con-
tinued with a fiendish chucLle. which
would have done credit to Barnaby
Rudge'sraven, ait is an edition de luxe
and the price is Hooking me up and
down from my hat, which bad seen con-
siderable wear, 10 my boots, which had
been resoled twice the price is three.
and six. :"
BY JovO thought TO myself, what
a come down after the rhapsody he'd
been indulging in. Somehow | didn't
seem to care so much for the book now
that it was within my reach. "1hree-
and-six and / moved toward the door.
"1 don't know, after all, that l care
about the thing. L"
But, my good gentleman" he con-
timed in tones Of anxiety, "consider
what bargain A rare work, an origi-
nal edition, and only. You shall have
it for half crown !"
Perhaps" remarked. surprised by
his eagerness to rid himself of this, he
cording to him, valuable edition, cit is
imperfect !?
"Not a leaf injured. You shall ex-
anime it for yourself" He went toward
the window and mounting a pair OF
steps proceeded TO remove the volume
from It's position. In some way or other,
in doing this, it slipped and fell. one
corner striking him in the eye with con-
siderable force. 1t evidently inflicted
some pain, and he responded in curses
not loud, but deep. and evidently coming
from the bottom OF his heart. "Tske
it." he said, blinking at me ont Of his
uniniured eye, "take it /; you shall have
it for two shillings." With this offer.
after a brief inspection which showed
the book TO be uninjured and the
title-page intact, I closed and left
the shop with my purchase under my
arm. Something caused me to look back
on reaching the end of the short street,
and saw my bookselling friend stand
ing at the door OF his shop, with a red
cotton handkerchief tied over one eye.
which made him appear still less inviting
than before, and rubbing his hands with
what looked like great glee and self
graduation.
"Queer old fish |" thought to my
self 4; che can't have made much out of
this bargain. Any one would think he
WAS new TO the business to let book like
this go so dirt cheap. Yet he looked
cute enough. too
took ali omnibus at the circus. There
were three or four other people in it be-
sides myself, including a equity old gen
tleman and woman with a baby. L
dislike woman with q baby-or,
indeed, any other combination which in
cludes a baby. With regard TO the old
gentleman, had the misfortune to drop
my new purchase on his equity foot. |
had 10 wish to drop it on that particular
foot. but would just as soon have. drop
ped il on the other, if the choice had
been given me but from the language
in which he INDUCED you might have
thought that the outrage had been pre-
meditated and carried out OF malice pre-
pense.
Then / sat down by the baby, and the
baby screamed itself black IN the face in
less than five minutes, to whom its fond
parent vainly addressed words of mystic
consolation: Didn't 'um like nasty
man. then. and did 'um brighton 'um's
precious pets out of 'um's pretty wits "
After all, when / inspected my pur-
chase there didn't seem TO he much to
congratulate myself upon with regard to
il. II was large octave in size, OF rather
less than 900 pages in thickness, the pa
per yellow, the print faded, and the
binding-I turned it over and over, but
there was nothing il the least TO justify
the extravagant encOniums lavlshed upon
it by its last owner. What it was
hound in seemed TO be a speciee of
parchment or vellum, which had also be-
come yellow and dlscolored by time and
use. ] shut 1t up after brief inspection
of its contents, and laid it aside while l
discussed a nOndescript meal, which be-
can with cold mutton and ended with
marnalade. | had closed the book and
laid it on the mantelpiece out Of the
way; and here l may mention that |
found the back very stif, and the book
not easy to open in cOnsequence-ln fact,
IL shut Immediately OF It's own accord
directly one removed ones hand.
It WAS peculiar creaking sound which
made me turn my head III the direction
OF the empty fireplace, which now III The
month of June contained nothing but
torn envelopes, burned matches, and
other untldy litter OF bachelors apart
ment TO my amazenent l found that
! the noise came from the book | had Just
| bought, and which was slowly and de-
/ hberately opening OF Its own accord.
! There must he something peculiar about
/ the binding, which allowed the volume
/ thus to open when | had found con-
/ siderable difficulty in making 1t do SO,
and when even then it Obstlnately re-
fused to remain open without being held.
! / rose and looked at 1t whore 1t lay
fat open on the shelf, at Chapter v, the
! title Of which was, "Du drot de we Ct
de mort" aud even my limited stock OF
French allowed me TO translate the
phrase as THE right Of life and death. "
/ shut the book up, and then tried
whetlT il would open again at the same
place-perhaps this had been :ayorlte
| chapter with one OF ITS previous owners,
which might account for it. But no the
/ book once shut refused to reopen with
out considerable wrench the leaves
seemed 10 adhere together in peculiar
manner, and felt damp and clammy
10 the touch. so 1 put it down again, and
: lighting pipe went and sat by the open
window AMI watched the passers-by.
Presently was almost startled to hear
the same peculiar sound coming from be-
hind me This time | knew at once
where to look. There was that con-
/ founded "social contract " slowly and
deliberately opening again, justas though
some invisible hand had hold OF 1t.
made two strides to the fireplace. Yes,
there it was, open at the same place as
before Chapter ". "Du droit de vie
ct de mort" ''Hang Chapter Y. and It's
confounded title 4" ! muttered to my.
self as | banged tie lids together and