PET GIVES HER TUTOR A LESSON.
"Then on his blow the swelling vein
Throbbed, as if back upon his brain
The hot blood ebbed and flowed again."
--BYRON.
Your pardon, dear reader, if, without further preface, I skip over a
period of six years. One brief bird's-eye glance at the past, and then
to go on with our history.
Those six years had changed Ray and Ranty from boys of fifteen to young
men of twenty-one, and had metamorphosed Erminie and Petronilla from
little girls of twelve and eleven to young ladies of respectively
eighteen and seventeen. Beyond that, it had wrought little change in
Judestown or its inhabitants.
Master Ranty having displayed, during his rapid career at college,
sundry "fast" tendencies, was sent to sea to take the nonsense out of
him. That young gentleman bore his fate with most exemplary patience and
resignation, affirming that he always had a strong partiality for
bilge-water and short allowance, and rather liked the cat-o'-nine-tails
than otherwise.
Great was the delight of the worthy admiral, his uncle, when he heard of
his nephew's destination; and it was partially through his influence
that, some months after, Ranty, radiant in blue roundabout and bright
brass buttons, stood on the deck of the Sea Nymph, and wrote his name,
in tremendous capitals, as "Randolph Lawless, U. S. N."
"Now remember, Minnie, you mustn't go and fall in love with anybody
else," were his parting words; "if you do, I'll knock all creation into
everlasting smash; I'll hurl the whole universe into the regions of
space; I'll set fire to every blessed one of the United States, and
bring all the world and Nebraska Territory to universal ruination!"
Duly impressed by these appalling and blood-chilling threats, Erminie
dutifully promised not to "go and fall in love with anybody else;" and
Mr Lawless, transformed into a dashing middy, gave his friends at home
his blessing, and set off on his first voyage.
Ray, who, even in his boyhood, had displayed great talent in legal
matters, was now, by the kindness of the admiral, in New York city,
studying law.
Erminie, too, was absent from home now. Having completely captivated the
heart of the generous and eccentric Admiral Havenful, as she did that of
most others, he set about thinking, one day, what was the best means to
display his affection. Just then he recollected her fondness for
learning, and the few opportunities she had to indulge that fondness;
and jumping up, he struck the table a vigorous blow, exclaiming:
"I'll send her to school! Pet learns all them heathenish foreign
languages, and makes a noise on that big sea-chest of a piano, and so
shall little Snowdrop. I'll send her to school this very day!--shiver my
timbers if I don't!"
And on the spur of the moment, the admiral, with many a doleful grunt,
dumped himself on old Ringbone's back, and jogged over the heath to the
cottage.
There he made his proposal to Erminie, whose sweet blue eyes lit up at
first with joy and gratitude; then came the thought of Ketura, now a
helpless cripple, unable to leave her room, and her countenance fell,
and the joyful light faded from her face.
"I am very sorry, but I cannot leave my grandmother," was her sad reply.
"Fiddle-de-dee!" exclaimed the admiral, testily. "She's got Lucy to
attend to her; and if Lucy is not enough, she can have half a dozen
female women from the White Squall to keep her in proper sailing order.
I know a good place to send you to, Snowdrop, and go you shall, and
that's all about it! I'll speak to the old lady myself about it."
So the admiral stamped up-stairs and spoke to Ketura, accordingly, who
gave a cold, curt assent. And the result of this was that, three weeks
after, Erminie was sent to a Convent of the Sacred Heart, to study
everything necessary for a finished education.
So, of our four young friends, only Firefly remained at home, under the
surveillance of a tutor. Pet had lost none of her mischief-loving
propensities as she grew up; in fact, they seemed to grow with her
growth, until she became the maddest, merriest, skip-over-the-moon
madcap that ever threw a peaceable community into convulsions. Never did
a pupil drive a well-disposed teacher to the verge of distraction as Pet
did hers; never did a naughty daughter throw a dignified "parient" into
such undignified paroxysms of rage as our Firefly did; never was a
quiet, orderly, stately mansion thrown upside down, as if a tornado had
torn through it every day, as Heath Hall was; never in any other house
was here heard such awful banging of doors, and slamming down of
windows, and tearing like a maniac up and down-stairs, and rushing like
a living whirlwind in and out of every room in five minutes, as might be
seen and heard here; never were servants so completely at their wits'
end; never were quiet, business-like neighbors so completely and utterly
shocked and astonished before as they were by the freaks of Judge
Lawless' heiress. Well-named was Pet; for never, since the plagues of
Egypt, was the earth afflicted with a more lawless little hurricane than
the hot-headed, laughter-loving, mischief-making heiress in question.
Very charming, withal, and bewilderingly beautiful was Pet; and there
was not a young man in Judestown, or within twenty miles round, who
would not have given his whiskers and mustaches for one glance from her
"bonnie black e'e." But Pet didn't care a snap for all the young men in
America, except, perhaps, Ray Germaine; and she flirted away
unmercifully, turned countless heads, and had more sighing swains at her
feet than all the other belles of Judestown put together.
Pet was naturally clever, bright and talented, and could have progressed
wonderfully in her studies if she had chosen; but she didn't choose, and
followed her own sweet will about learning, in spite of all the
lectures, entreaties and persuasions of her tutor, and the stern
reproofs and angry out-bursts of her father. Therefore, at eighteen, she
could play a little, draw a little--her talents in this respect were
chiefly confined to caricature--sing a good deal, talk more than she
could sing, and was still aware that English grammar was a little book
with a gray cover. At first, Mr. Garnet, her teacher, had insisted upon
her applying herself; but seeing that Pet only listened very dutifully
and then did as she liked after, he gave it up, and allowed her now
pretty much to do as she liked.
Pet had from the first conceived a strong dislike to this gentleman--a
dislike that increased every day. This was the more surprising, as his
conduct, morals, and manners, were irreproachable, and he was an immense
favorite with the judge and everybody else. In person he was a tall,
light-haired, gray-eyed, effeminate-looking young man; easy and
courteous in manner, polished in address, a finished scholar,
and--strict Christian. But Pet's keen gaze had detected the concealed
cunning in the eye; the sardonic smile, the unscrupulous look the face
sometimes wore; the hard, crafty, cruel expression of the mouth.
Therefore, all his virtue was to her hypocrisy; his goodness, a mask for
evil designs; his politeness, a cloak for covert wickedness. Pet
disliked him, and took no pains to conceal it.
And Pet had read his character aright; he had been a young man of
fortune--he was a ruined debauchee, reduced to this by his excesses. At
first he had looked upon his scholar as a pest and plague; but as she
grew up, his feelings changed. Love and ambition began to enter his
heart. What, he thought, if he could win this peerless beauty, this
wealthy heiress, to be his wife? His fallen fortunes would be retrieved,
and his pride and passion gratified possessing her. Concealing his
schemes, he wound himself round the heart of the judge, until he became
his bosom friend and confidant. He knew Pet disliked him, but he thought
this was because she looked upon him as a cross master; if she could be
taught to regard him as a lover, it would be very different. Therefore,
as months passed, he became all kindness, tenderness, and
affability--the most devoted slave and admirer Miss Lawless had.
"When Satan turns saint, there's room for suspicion!" said Pet, looking
at him with a cool, critical eye. "You're up to something you shouldn't
be, my good youth. I'll keep my eye on you, Mr. Rozzel Garnet."
But though Pet kept her "eye on him" as she threatened, no clue to the
change could she discover; for as a lover she had never dreamed of him
in her wildest moments. Until one day, bursting into the library where
he sat, with an open letter in her hand, her cheeks flushed to a deeper
crimson than usual, her dancing curls all irradiate, her brilliant eyes
flashing back the sunshine, her whole face sparkling with delight, he
looked up from the book he was reading, and asked:
"You seem in unusually good spirits to-day, Miss Lawless--may I ask the
cause?"
"Yes; I've got a letter from Ray, and he's coming home in a month or so!
Tra, la, la, la, la, la, la."
And Pet went waltzing round the room.
A cloud settled for a moment on the bland face of the gentleman, and his
small eyes shot a sharp, jealous gleam at the bewildering figure
floating dimly over the carpet. It vanished, however, as quickly as it
came, as he said, in a tone of assumed carelessness: "Ah! and who is
Ray, Miss Petronilla?"
"Why, you know well enough," said Pet, impatiently. "Ray Germaine--you
saw him when he was here last."
"Bless me! Yes, I had forgotten; but you remember that was three years
ago, Miss Lawless, so I may be pardoned for not recollecting him. If I
took as much interest in him as you seem to do, my memory would
doubtless be better."
His tones were low, bland and oily, but his gleaming eyes were like two
drawn stilettoes.
"I expect you would," said Pet. "I have a faint idea that I would have
some trouble--if not more--in forgetting Ray Germaine. Don't believe he
would approve of my doing so at all, either."
"I did not think Miss Lawless cared for the approval or disapproval of
any one in the world," insinuated the gentleman, with one of his bland
smiles and needle-like glances.
"We'll see what thought done! That proves, Mr. Garnet," said the elf,
mockingly, "how careful the general run of man-kind should be in
trusting their thoughts, since even a gentleman so near perfection as
you are can be deceived."
"Then you do care for the approval of this fellow, Germaine?" said the
tutor, trying to hide a dark scowl.
"This fellow, Germaine? Well, there's a nice way for a young lady's
tutor to talk of her friends. I'd prefer to hear him called Mister
Germaine, sir, if it's all the same to you," said Pet, drawing herself
up.
"Oh, very well!" said Garnet, with a curling lip; "only as he is a
pauper, educated by the bounty of your uncle--"
But his speech was cut short by Pet's springing suddenly round, with
blazing eyes, passion-darkened face, and fiercely and passionately
bursting out with:
"It is false! It is a foul slander! Ray Germaine is no pauper; and if
you ever dare to say such a thing again, I shall have you turned out of
the house! Take care how you talk, Mr. Rozzel Garnet! It's treading on
dangerous ground to slight my friends before me!"
Mr. Garnet saw that he had made a false move, and that it was dangerous
work handling this fiery little grenade, so he banished all traces of
his recent scowl from his face, and his tones were of honeyed sweetness
when he spoke again.
"Ten thousand pardons, Miss Lawless, for my offence. Believe me, I had
not the remotest intention of slighting your excellent friend, Mr.
Germaine. You and he were very intimate, I presume?"
"Thick as pickpockets," said Pet, forgetting her momentary anger.
"Heigho! I wish he was here; he was the only masculine I ever knew, who
wasn't as stupid as an owl."
"That's a very flattering speech, Miss Lawless," said Garnet, biting his
lip, "and a very sweeping assertion. Are there no exceptions but him?"
"Not that I've ever met. I dare say there may be one or two in the
world; but I haven't come across them."
There was a moment's pause, during which Garnet sat gnawing his nether
lip, and Pet flitted round the room, humming an opera air. He watched
her covertly, and then, seeing her about to leave, he started
impulsively up, exclaiming:
"One moment, Miss Pet--I have something to say to you."
"Well, fire away," said Pet, composedly, turning round, and standing
with her back to the door.
But for once in his life, his customary assurance seemed to have failed
him. There was something in the bold, fearless open gaze of those
brilliant black eyes that daunted him, brazen as he was. A slight
crimson flushed to his face, and his eyes for an instant fell.
"Now, what in the name of Diana and all her nymphs is coming?" mentally
exclaimed Pet, as she watched in surprise his embarrassment. "The cool,
self-possessed, dignified Mr. Rozzel Garnet blushing like a boiled
lobster before poor little Pet Lawless! Snakes and sarpints, and
varmints generally, the world's coming to an end--that's certain!"
Then aloud:
"Mr. Garnet, I desired you to fire away, which translated from the
original Greek, means go ahead, and say whatever you want to. No need to
be bashful about it seeing it's only me."
The flush on Mr. Garnet's cheek deepened, as he said:
"Perhaps, Miss Petronilla, what I am about to say may be unexpected, but
it can hardly take you by surprise. The change in my manner toward you
for the last few months must have prepared you for it."
He stopped short, and began walking up and down. Pet stuck both hands in
her apron-pockets, and stood waiting, "like Patience on a monument," for
what was to come next.
"It's no gunpowder-plot, or hanging matter, now, is it?" she began. "For
though I wouldn't mind setting the Chesapeake on fire, or blowing up the
Alleghanies, I've an immense respect for the laws of my country, Mr.
Garnet, and would not like to undermine the Constitution, or anything of
that sort. Any common matter, though, from riding a steeple-chase to
fighting a duel, and I'm yours to command."
"Miss Lawless, may I beg of you to be serious for a few moments--this is
no jesting matter," said the gentleman, looking annoyed.
"Well, my goodness! ain't I serious? I'll leave it to the company,
generally, if I'm not as solemn as a hearse. If you'd only condescend to
look at me instead of watching the flowers in the carpet, you would see
my face is half a yard long."
"Then, Miss Lawless, to come to the matter at once--for I know you do
not like long prefaces--I love you, I worship you, Petronilla!
Petronilla, dearer then life! may I hope one day to possess this dear
hand?"
Now, if our Pet had been sentimental, she would have blushed becomingly,
burst into tears, or covered her face with her hands, maybe; but Pet
wasn't a bit sentimental, and so, arching her eyebrows, and opening her
eyes till they were the size of two saucers, she gave utterance to her
complete amazement in a long, shrill whistle.
Garnet approached her, and would have taken her hand, only as they were
still stuck in her apron-pockets, she didn't appear to have such a thing
about her. Accordingly, therefore, he attempted do the next best thing,
that is, put his arms around her waist; but Pet very coolly edged away
saying:
"Hands off, Mr. Garnet, until better acquainted. I don't believe in
having coat-sleeves round my waist--as a general thing. Just say that
over again, will you; it was mighty interesting!"
And Pet flung herself into an arm-chair, and put her feet upon an
ottoman with a great display of carelessness and ankles, and stared Mr.
Garnet composedly in the face.
"Cruel girl! You know your power, and thus you use it. Oh, Petronilla!
my beautiful one! have I nothing left to hope for?"
"That's a question I can't take it upon myself to answer," said Pet.
"There's your next quarter's salary, though, you can hope for that."
"Is that meant as a taunt? Oh, Petronilla! you little know how deeply,
how devotedly I love you! I could give my life to make you happy."
"Thanky, Mr. Garnet--shows a highly Christian spirit in you: but, at the
same time, I guess I won't mind it. As to your loving me, I have not the
slightest doubt about it. I'm such an angel in female form that I don't
see how people can help loving me, any more than they can help the
toothache. So you needn't go telling me over again you love me, because
you've said it two or three times already; and the most interesting
things get tiresome, you know, when repeated too often."
"Capricious, beautiful fairy! how shall I win you to seriousness?
Fairest Petronilla, I would serve for this little hand even as Jacob
served for Rachel!"
"Mr. Garnet, it's real polite of you to say so, but you'll excuse me for
saying I'd a good deal rather you wouldn't. You've been here six years
now, and if I thought I was to undergo six more like them, I'd take the
first bar of soft-soap I could find and put an immediate end to my
melancholy existence."
"Mocking still! Oh, beautiful Petronilla! how shall I reach this willful
heart?"
"There's no heart there, Mr. Garnet; it took a trip to the fast city of
Gotham three years ago, and hasn't come back since."
"With Raymond Germaine?" he said, with a sharp flash of his eyes.
"Ex-actly; you've struck the right thing in the middle--hit the nail
straight on the head--jumped, with your accustomed sagacity, at my exact
meaning. After all, you're not half so stupid as you look, Mr. Garnet."
"Miss Lawless," he broke out, angrily, "this levity is as unbecoming as
it is unnecessary. I have asked you a question, which, as a lady, you
are bound to answer."
"Mr. Garnet, look here," said Pet: "did papa hire you to knock reading,
writing and spelling into me, or to make love?"
"Miss Lawless!"
"Perhaps, though," said Pet, in a musing tone, "it's customary with
tutors when winding-up a young lady's education, to put her through a
severe course of love-making, that she may know how to act and speak
properly when occasion requires. Mr. Garnet, excuse me, I never thought
of it before; I see it all now. Just begin at the beginning again, if
it's not too much trouble, and you'll see how beautifully I'll go
through with it."
He started up passionately, and bit his lip till it bled.
"Once for all, Miss Lawless," he exclaimed, stifling his impotent rage,
and striding fiercely up to her--"once for all, I demand an answer. I
love you--will you be my wife?"
"Well, upon my word, Mr. Rozzel Garnet," said Pet, confusedly, "you have
the mildest and pleasantest way of your own I ever witnessed. Here you
come stamping up to me as if about to knock me down, and savagely tell
me you love me! Love away, can't you, but don't get in a rage about it!
I'm sure you're perfectly welcome to love me till you're black in the
face, if you'll only take things easy."
"Miss Lawless, forgive me; I'm half-mad, and scarce know what I said."
"I forgive you," said Pet, stretching out her hands as if about to warm
them; "go, sin no more. I thought you were a little light in the head
myself; but then it didn't surprise me, as it's about the full of the
moon, I think."
"Miss Lawless, I _did_ think you were too much of a lady to despise and
scoff at true affection thus. If I have the misfortune to be poor, that
does not make me the less sensitive to insult."
"Now, Mr. Garnet, look here," said Pet, rising. "I'm getting tired of
this scene, and may as well bring it to an end at once. Your love I
fully understand; you have several reasons for loving me--several
thousands, in fact, but we won't speak of them. As to insulting you, I
flatly deny it; and if you think I have done so, just refer me to a
friend, and I'll fight a duel about it to-morrow. Scoffing at true
affection is another thing I'm not in the habit of doing, neither in
despising people for being poor; you know both these things as well as I
do. But, Mr. Garnet, I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man in
the world, and I was to go to my grave a forlorn, hatchet-faced old maid
for refusing you. If it's any consolation to you to know it, I wouldn't
marry you to save your neck from the hangman--your soul from you know
who--or your goods and chattels, personal, from being turned, neck and
crop, into the street. Now, there!"
His face blanched with rage; his eyes gleamed with a serpent-like light;
his thin lips quivered, and for a moment he stood glaring upon her as if
he could have torn her limb from limb. But there was a dangerous light
in her eye, too, as she stood drawn up to her full height, with
reddening cheeks, and defiant, steady gaze, staring him still straight
in the face. So they stood for an instant, and then the sense of the
ludicrous overcame all else in Pet's mind, and she burst into a clear,
merry peal of laughter.
"Well, upon my word, Mr. Garnet, if this is not as good as a farce; here
we are, staring at each other, as if for a wager, and looking as savage
as a couple of uncivilized tigers. I dare say, it would be a very nice
way to pass time on an ordinary occasion; but as it's drawing near
dinner-time, and I have a powerful appetite of my own, you'll excuse me
for bidding you a heartrending adieu, and tearing myself away. If you
have anything more to say, I'll come back, after dinner, and stand it
like a martyr."
"Not so fast, Miss Petronilla Lawless!" said Garnet, grasping her by the
arm, his sallow face fairly livid with rage; "since it has been your
good pleasure to laugh me to scorn, and mock at the affection I have
offered, just hear me. I swear to you, the day shall come when you will
rue this! There is but a step between love and hatred and that step I
have taken. Remember, you have made me your deadliest enemy, and I am an
enemy not to be scorned! Girl, beware!"
"Well, now, I declare," said Pet, "if this is not as good as a play and
moral. I'm afraid you're only plagiarizing, though, Mr. Garnet, for that
melodramatic 'girl, beware!' sounds very like something I read in the
'Pink Bandit of the Cranberry Cove.' Confess, now, you've been reading
it--haven't you?--and that's an extract from it; and, at the same time,
you'll oblige me by letting go my arm. It's not made of cast-iron,
though you seem to think it is."
"Laugh, girl!" he said, hoarsely, "but the day will come when you shall
sue to me, and sue in vain, even as I have done to-day. Then you will
know what it is to despise Rozzel Garnet."
"Why, you horrid old fright!" exclaimed Pet, with flashing eyes, _"I_
sue to you, indeed! I guess not, my good teacher! How dare you threaten
me, sir, your master's daughter! Upon my word and honor, Mr. Rozzel
Garnet, I have the best mind ever was to have you horsewhipped out of
the house by my servants. A pretty chivalrous gentleman you are, to
stand up there and talk to a lady like this! I declare to goodness! if I
hadn't the temper of an angel, I wouldn't stand it!"
Still he held her, glaring in her face with his threatening eyes, and
half-choked with passion.
"Let me go," said Pet, jerking herself first one way, and then another,
to free herself from his tenacious grasp. "I vow I'll go and tell papa
every blessed word of this, and if you stay another night under the same
roof with me, my name's not Petronilla. Take your claw from my arm, will
you? and let me go!"
Pet jerked and pulled in vain; Mr. Garnet held her fast, and smiled a
grim, sardonic smile at her futile efforts.
"Spit and snarl, my little kitten," he said mockingly; "see what a
sparrow you are in my grasp. Go you shall not, till it is my good
pleasure to release you!"
With a sharp, passionate cry of rage, Petronilla darted down like
lightning, and sunk her sharp, white teeth into his hand. The red blood
spurted from a little circlet of wounds, and with an oath of pain and
fury, he sprung back from the little wild-cat. No sooner was his hold
released, than Pet darted like a flash through the door, turned the key
in the lock and held him captive.
"Aha! Mr. Garnet!" she cried, exultingly; "little kittens can bite as
well as snarl, you see. You caught a Tartar that time--didn't you?
You're a model gentleman; you're the saint that ought to be canonized on
the spot; you're the refined scholar--ain't you? I'll leave you, now, to
discover the charms of solitude, while I go and tell papa the lesson I
have taught you this morning. A little fasting and solitary imprisonment
won't hurt your blood in the least. Bon jour, Seigneur Don Monsieur
Moustache Whiskerando! May your guardian-angel watch over you till I
come back, and keep you from bursting a blood-vessel in your rage. If
anything should happen to so precious an individual, society might as
well shut up shop at once, so the gods have a care of you, Mr. Rozzel
Garnet!" And off danced Pet.
In the dining-room she found her father awaiting her.
"Where is Mr. Garnet?" he asked as she entered.
"Mr. Garnet will not be down to dinner," said Pet, inwardly determining
to keep that gentleman as long imprisoned as she could.
The judge, without troubling himself to inquire further, took his seat,
and proceeded to administer condign punishment to the good things spread
before him, assisted by Pet, whose appetite was by no means impaired by
the pleasant scene she had just passed through, and whose stony
conscience was not in the least troubled with remorse for having locked
a young gentleman up without his dinner.
About ten minutes after, the judge started to leave the room, and Pet,
guessing where he was going, called to him:
"Papa!"
"Well," said the judge, pausing, and turning round.
"Where are you going?"
"To the library, Miss Lawless," said the judge, with dignity.
"Well, look here, papa, there's a prisoner of war in there."
"What, Miss Lawless?" said the judge, knitting his brows in perplexity.
"A prisoner I have taken--captivated--locked up! In other words, the
pupil has turned teacher and locked her master up, as mothers do
refractory children, to bring him to his senses."
"Miss Lawless," said the judge, in his most stately manner, "I have no
time to listen to your nonsense. If you have anything to say--say it. If
not, hold your tongue, and learn to be respectful when you address your
father."
"Well, I never!" ejaculated Pet. "No matter how seriously, sensibly, or
solemnly I talk, people say I'm talking nonsense. But that's just my
fate; everything awful and horrid is destined to happen to me; and if I
say a word against it, I'm told I'm imprudent and ungrateful, and dear
knows what. Now, I told you I have locked my teacher up, and you tell me
you have no time to listen to my nonsense. I guess Mr. Garnet finds it
an unpleasant truth, anyway."
"Petronilla! what do you mean?" said her father, beginning to think
there might be method in this madness.
"Why, that I've locked Mr. Garnet up in the library for not behaving
himself," said Pet, promptly.
"Locked him up!"
"Yes, sir; and served him right, too, the hateful old ghoul!"
"Locked your teacher up?"
"Yes, sir; teachers require locking up as well as pupils."
"Miss Lawless, it's not possible that you have been guilty of such an
outrageous act!" said the judge, with an awful frown.
"Yes, it is possible," said Pet; "and he deserves twice as much for what
he did. Oh, wouldn't I like to be a man for one blessed half-hour, that
I could horsewhip him within an inch of his life!"
"Good Heavens! what a visitation this mad girl is! What has Mr. Garnet
done, you dreadful girl?"
"Dreadful girl!" burst out Pet, indignantly, "there's the way I'm abused
for taking my own part. Your daughter's teacher has been making all
sorts of love to me all the whole blessed morning!" and thereupon Pet
commenced with a "full, true, and authentic" account of her morning
interview in the library.
As the judge listened, the scowl on his brow grew blacker and blacker
till his face was like the double-refined essence of a thunderbolt. But
when Pet mentioned his threats and indignity in refusing to free her,
his rage burst all bounds, and his wrath was a sight to see.
"The villain! the scoundrel! the blackleg! the low-bred hound! to dare
to talk to my daughter in such a way! I vow to Heaven I have a good mind
to break every bone in his body! To insult my daughter under her
father's roof, and threaten her like this! Petronilla, where is the key?
I'll kick the impertinent puppy out of the house."
"The key's in the door," said Pet. "I expect he's in a sweet frame of
mind by this time."
Up-stairs, in a highly choleric state, marched the judge, and turning
the key in the library-door, he confronted Mr. Garnet, who was striding
up and down the room in a way not particularly beneficial to the carpet,
with flashing eyes, scowling brows, and an awful expression of
countenance generally, and began, in a tone of withering sarcasm:
"So, Mr. Garnet, you have done my daughter the honor to propose for her
hand this morning, and when that digit was refused you, you caught her,
and had the impudence to insult her in her father's house. Oh! you're a
model teacher of youth, Mr. Garnet! You're an exemplary young man to be
trusted with the education of a young female. Come, sir, out of my
house, and if ever I catch sight of you again, I'll cane you while I'm
able to stand. Off with you this instant." And the judge, who was as
strong as half a dozen broken-down _roues_ like Garnet, caught him by
the collar and unceremoniously dragged him down stairs. In vain the
_quondam_ teacher strove to free himself, and make his voice heard; not
a word would the judge listen to; but upon reaching the hall door,
landed him by a well-applied kick on the broad of his back, and then
went in, slamming the door in his face.
Crestfallen and mortified, Mr. Garnet picked himself up, and glancing
hurriedly around, beheld Petronilla standing laughingly watching him at
the window. A very fiend seemed to leap into his eyes then, and shaking
his fist at her, he strode off breathing words of vengeance, "not loud,
but deep."