Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 25, September 17, 1870 by Various
page 18 of 74 (24%)
page 18 of 74 (24%)
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"There, sir!" said the mourning organist, panting with suppressed
excitement. "That will keep you from taking cold until you can be walked up and down in the open air long enough to get your hair and beard sober. They have been indulging, sir, until the top of your head has fallen over backwards, and your whiskers act as though they belonged to somebody else. The sight confuses me, sir, and in my present state of mind I can't bear it." Coughing from the lemon tea, and greatly amazed by his hasty dismissal, Mr. CLEWS followed Judge SWEENEY from the room and house in precipitate haste, and, when they were fairly out of doors, remarked, that the gentleman they had just left had surprised him unprecedentedly, and that he was very much put out by it. "Mr. JOHN BUMSTEAD, sir," explained the Judge, "is almost beside himself at the double loss he has sustained, and I think that the sight of your cane, there, maddened him with the memory it revived." "Why," exclaimed the gentleman of the hair, staring in wonder, "you don't mean to tell me that my cane looks at all like his nephew?" "It looks a little like the stick of his umbrella, which he lost at the same time," was the grave answer. After walking on in thoughtful silence for a while, as though deeply pondering the striking character of a man whose great nature could thus at once unite the bereaved uncle with the sincere mourner for the dumb friend of his rainier days, Mr. TRACEY CLEWS asked whether suspicion yet pointed to any one? |
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