Ladies and GentlemenCobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
General
Ladies and Gentlemen
Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)
Fiction; Short stories, American
"Undoubtedly the person that your late father-in-law had in mind
was one Cecelia Lamprey, better known as 'Sis.' But not by the
widest stretch of imagination could anyone think of her as a
'lady.' She is the proprietress of a most notorious assignation
house located on North Bonaventure Avenue, this city, and according
to my best information and belief, has always been a woman of loose
morals and bad repute. I might add that having been elected on a
reform ticket and being committed to the task of ridding our city
of evil, I am at present setting on foot an effort to close up her
establishment, which has until lately enjoyed secret 'protection,'
and to drive her from our midst.
"Accordingly, I am constrained to believe that, being probably
semi-delirious, the lately deceased, your esteemed father-in-law,
must have made a mistake. I assume that he had 'Sis' Lamprey's
house pointed out to him and in his ravings got it confused with
the domicile where he was housed during his sojourn among us. It
is not conceivable to me that a man such as you describe would,
while in his sober senses, set foot inside an establishment so
readily recognizable at a glance as being absolutely disreputable,
let alone remain there for any appreciable period of time. It is
equally incredible to think of 'Sis' opening her doors to any
decent person or for any worthy purpose.
"In view of these facts I am constrained to believe your wife
would shrink from any contact or any communication with such an
individual. I am therefore taking the liberty of holding her letter
on my desk until you and she have had opportunity to consider
this embarrassing situation and to decide what you should do. My
advice is that you instruct me to return the letter to you at once
and consider the incident closed. However, I await your further
instruction.
(Signed) "JASON BRODERICK, Mayor."
To which the following reply was immediately dispatched by wire:
"Nevertheless, on behalf of my wife and myself, kindly be so good
as immediately to deliver the letter in question to the lady in
question."
THE ORDER OF THE BATH
[Decoration]
It seemed like everything that was happening that week happened to
the Gridleys. Substantially, these were Mrs. Gridley's own words in
speaking of the phenomena.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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