74 STRAY -AW AYS 



sat down, so did lie. He was elderly, stout, and very 

 untidy, his striped feet writhed bashfully away under 

 his ehair in a spiral twist like a mermaid's tail. The 

 interrupted newspaper was clutched in a tremulous 

 hand, and over it an eye of extreme embarrassment 

 and unquenchable amusement peered intermittently 

 at us. 



We entered, full-sailed, on our mission, gathered 

 impetus as the old truths were trotted out, rising 

 even to enthusiasm as the fighting instinct woke. 

 When we had perorated, Mr. Brown, using his news- 

 paper as a Spanish lady uses her fan, emerged from 

 what we believe to have been convulsions of laughter, 

 and stated that he would probably not vote at all ; 

 that, as a matter of fact, he never did. His eye rolled 

 with almost agonising consciousness of absurdity, 

 whether his own or ours we could not determine. A 

 very stern parlourmaid here entered, extracted from 

 a coal-scuttle behind us a pair of slippers, and handed 

 them coldly to Mr. Brown. The mermaid's tail was 

 uncoiled, the striped socks were housed in green 

 Brussels carpet, and Mr. Brown retired again behind 

 the newspaper. Thus hidden, he informed us, in 

 a series of giggles, that what we had said was very 

 interesting, and that there was a gentleman two doors 

 off, and another at the end of the road, who would be 

 very glad to hear what we had to say. After this he 

 sank again behind the newspaper, and we took our 

 leave. To the last he was excessively friendly, and 

 madly, ipysteriously amused. 



We proceeded to the house of the gentleman who 

 lived two doors off, and endured a considerable proba- 

 tion on the doorstep, while that sense of taking a 

 liberty, that is the torture of the amateiu- canvasser, 

 became the only idea in the universe. The lady of the 

 house appeared ; her step was noiseless as Mr. Brown's, 



