“Doctor Weasel, I do this thing with great reluctance,” said Manton, rising. “I suppose I must go; but rest assured, I do not feel particularly obliged to you for forcing me into this position.”
This was said in a very cold, measured tone; but the Doctor’s delight at the prospect of accomplishing his favorite and benevolent scheme, was so great, that his excitement prevented him from observing it.
“Never mind, come along; you will thank me for it, on the contrary, as long as you live.”
Manton left the room with him, and when they reached the parlor, he was rapidly introduced to Mrs. Orne and her daughter, who sat upon a lounge awaiting him. The Doctor instantly darted out of the room; and Manton was left vis-a-vis with his ecstatic correspondent.
As the woman rose to meet him, the blood mounted to her very plain face, and square, compact, masculine forehead. The child, which was an ugly, impish-looking girl, with a mean forehead, wide mouth and projecting chin, nevertheless arrested the eye of Manton, as he sat down, by a mournful expression of suffering in her light gray eye.
The woman was evidently embarrassed for a moment, by the studied coldness of Manton’s manner, whose eye continued to dwell upon the half-quaker, and half-tawdry dress, rather than upon the face that had at the first glance impressed him so disagreeably.
“I have found you out, at last!” said the lady visitor, in a low, pleasing voice. “Now I have ventured into the tiger’s den, I hope he will not eat me!”
“You are perfectly safe, madam!” was the stiff response to this sally. “But to what may I owe the honor of this visit? Is there anything I can do for you?”
The blood mounted quickly to the woman’s forehead as she answered hastily, “Yes, I wanted to know if you can furnish me with a copy of all your works! I have admired with so much intensity what I have seen—but I am afraid you are very much of a naughty boy—you look so cold and cross! I am almost afraid to ask you!”
“I am very sorry, madam, I have written no works, as you are pleased to call them. What I have done is entirely fragmentary, and I have not collected those fragments even for myself,” was the unbending reply.