That word, too “poor,” is more than her already distracted brain can
bear up under. It brings back the terrible picture of their past
history; it goads and agonizes her very soul. She throws her arms
frantically about his neck; presses him to her bosom; kisses him with
the fervor of a child. Having pledged his forgiveness with a kiss, and
sealed it by calling in a witness too often profaned on such occasions,
George calms her feelings as best he can; then he smooths with a gentle
hand the folds of her uplifted dress, and with them curtains the satin
slippers that so delicately encase her small feet. This done, he
spreads over her the richly-lined India morning- gown presented to her
a few days ago by the Judge, who, as she says, so wantonly betrayed
her, and on whom she sought revenge. Like a Delian maid, surrounded
with Oriental luxury, and reclining on satin and velvet, she flings her
flowing hair over her shoulders, nestles her weary head in the
embroidered cushion, and with the hand of her only true friend firmly
grasped in her own, soothes away into a calm sleep-that sovereign but
too transient balm for sorrowing hearts.
Our scene changes. The ghost hath taken himself to the grave-yard; the
morning dawns soft and sunny on what we harmlessly style the sunny city
of the sunny South. Madame Flamingo hath resolved to nail another
horse-shoe over her door. She will propitiate (so she hath it) the god
of ghosts.
George Mullholland, having neither visible means of gaining a
livelihood nor a settled home, may be seen in a solitary box at
Baker’s, (a coffee-house at the corner of Meeting and Market streets,)
eating an humble breakfast. About him there is a forlornness that the
quick eye never fails to discover in the manners of the homeless man.
“Cleverly done,” he says, laying down the Mercury newspaper, in which
it is set forth that “the St. Cecilia, in consequence of an affliction
in the family of one of its principal members, postponed its assembly
last night. The theatre, in consequence of a misunderstanding between
the manager and his people, was also closed. The lecture on comparative
anatomy, by Professor Bones, which was to have been delivered at
Hibernian Hall, is, in consequence of the indisposition of the learned
Professor, put off to Tuesday evening next, when he will have, as he
deserves, an overflowing house. Tickets, as before, may be had at all
the music and bookstores.” The said facetious journal was silent on the
superior attractions at the house of the old hostess; nor did it deem
it prudent to let drop a word on the misunderstanding between the
patrons of the drama and the said theatrical manager, inasmuch as it
was one of those that are sure to give rise to a very serious
misunderstanding between that functionary and his poor people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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