190 THE BOARDING-HOUSE. 



" What can it be ?" exclaimed Mrs. Tibbs. " It's like a dream. 

 I wouldn't be found in this situation for the world. 



" Nor I," returned Evenson, who could never bear a joke at his 

 own expense. " Hush ! here they are at the door." 



" What fun !" whispered one of the new comers. It was Wis- 

 bottle. 



" Glorious !" replied his companion, in an equally low tone. This 

 was Alfred Tomkins. " Who would have thought it ?" 



" I told you so," said Wisbottle, in a most knowing whisper. 

 " Lord bless you, he has paid her most extraordinary attention for 

 the last two months. I saw 'em when I was sitting at the piano to- 

 night." 



" Well, do you know I didn't notice it?" interrupted Tomkins. 



" Not notice it !" continued Wisbottle. " Bless you ; I saw him 

 whispering to her, and she crying ; and then I'll swear I heard him 

 say something about to-night when we were all in bed." 



" They're talking of us," exclaimed the agonized Mrs. Tibbs, as 

 the painful suspicion, and a sense of their situation, flashed upon her 

 mind. 



" I know it I know it," replied Evenson, with a melancholy con- 

 sciousness that there was no mode of escape. 



" What's to be done we cannot both stop here," ejaculated Mrs. 

 Tibbs in a state of partial derangement. 



" I'll get up the chimney," replied Evenson, who really meant 

 what he said. 



" You can't," said Mrs. Tibbs in despair. " You can't it's a 

 register stove." 



" Hush !" repeated John Evenson. 



tf Hush hush !" cried somebody down stairs. 



" What a d d hushing !" said Alfred Tomkins, who began to get 

 rather bewildered. 



" There they are !" exclaimed the sapient Wisbottle, as a rustling 

 noise was heard in the store-room. 



" Hark !" whispered both the young men. 



" Hark !" repeated Mrs. Tibbs and Evenson. 



tf Let me alone, Sir," said a female voice in the store-room. 



" Oh, Hagnes !" cried another voice, which clearly belonged to 

 Tibbs, for nobody else ever owned one like it. " Oh, Hagnes lovely 

 creature !" 



" Be quiet, Sir," (a bounce.) 



Hag-" 



" Be quiet, Sir, I am ashamed of you. Think of your wife, Mr. 

 Tibbs Be quiet, Sir." 



te My wife !" exclaimed the valorous Tibbs, who was clearly under 

 the influence of gin-and-water, and a misplaced attachment ; " I ate 

 her ! Oh, Hagnes ! when I was in the volunteer corps, in eighteen 

 hundred and " 



" I declare I'll scream. Be quiet, Sir, will you ?" (Another 

 bounce, and a scuffle.) 



" What's that?" exclaimed Tibbs with a start. 



" What's what ?" said Agnes, stopping short. 



