Off Hand Sketches, a Little Dashed with Humour

T >> T.S. Arthur >> Off Hand Sketches, a Little Dashed with Humour

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Notwithstanding Mrs. Jones's perfect indifference toward Mrs. Todd,
she continued to talk about her, pretty much after this fashion,
growing more excited all the while, during the next half hour, at
the close of which time the ladies parted company.

When Mrs. Jones met her husband at the dinner-table, she related
what had happened during the morning. Mr. Jones was disposed to
treat the matter lightly, but his wife soon satisfied him that the
thing was no joke.

"What can be Mrs. Todd's reason for such conduct?" he asked, with a
serious air. "I can't tell, for my life."

"She must have heard some false report about you."

"It's as likely as not; but what can it be?"

"Something serious, to cause her to take so decided a stand as she
seems to have done."

Mr. Jones looked grave, and spoke in a grave tone of voice. This
made matters worse. Mrs. Jones's first idea was that Mrs. Todd had
heard something that she might have said about her, and that wounded
pride had caused her to do as she had done; but her husband's remark
suggested other thoughts. It was possible that reports were in
circulation calculated to injure her social standing, and that Mrs.
Todd's conduct toward her was not the result of any private pique.

"It is certainly strange and unaccountable," she said, in reply to
her husband's last remark, speaking in a thoughtful tone.

"Would it not be the fairest and best way for you to go and ask for
an explanation?"

"No, I can't do that," replied Mrs. Jones, quickly. "I am willing to
bear undeserved contempt and unjust censure, but I will never humble
myself to any one."

For the rest of the day, Mrs. Jones's thoughts all flowed in one
channel. A hundred reasons for Mrs. Todd's strange conduct were
imagined, but none seemed long satisfactory. At last, she remembered
having spoken pretty freely about the lady to a certain individual
who was not remarkable for his discretion.

"That's it," she said, rising from her chair, and walking nervously
across the floor of her chamber, backward and forward, for two or
three times, while a burning glow suffused her cheek. "Isn't it too
bad that words spoken in confidence should have been repeated! I
don't wonder she is offended."

This idea was retained for a time, and then abandoned for some other
that seemed more plausible. For the next two weeks, Mrs. Jones was
very unhappy. She did not meet Mrs. Todd during that period, but she
saw a number of her friends, to whom either she or Mrs. Lyon had
communicated the fact already stated. All declared the conduct of
Mrs. Todd to be unaccountable; but several, among themselves, had
shrewd suspicions of the real cause. Conversations on the subject,
like the following, were held:--

"I can tell you what I think about it, Mrs. S--. You know, Mrs.
Jones is pretty free with her tongue?"

"Yes."

"You've heard her talk about Mrs. Todd?"

"I don't remember, now."

"I have, often; she doesn't spare her, sometimes. You know,
yourself, that Mrs. Todd has queer ways of her own."

"She is not perfect, certainly."

"Not by a great deal; and Mrs. Jones has not hesitated to say so.
There is not the least doubt in my mind, that Mrs. Todd has heard
something."

"Perhaps so; but she is very foolish to take any notice of it."

"So I think; but you know she is touchy."

In some instances, the conversation assumed a grave form:--

"Do you know what has struck me, in this matter of Mrs. Jones and
Mrs. Todd?" says one scandal-loving personage to another, whose
taste ran parallel with her own.

"No. What is it?" eagerly asks the auditor.

"I will tell you; but you mustn't speak of it, for your life."

"Never fear me."

The communication was made in a deep whisper.

"Bless me!" exclaims the recipient of the secret. "It surely cannot
be so!"

"There is not the least doubt of it. I had it from a source that
cannot be doubted."

"How in the world did you hear it?"

"In a way not dreamed of by Mrs. Jones."

"No doubt, Mrs. Todd has heard the same."

"Not the least in the world. But don't you think her to blame in
refusing to keep Mrs. Jones's company, or even to speak to her?"

"Certainly I do. It happened a long time ago, and no doubt poor Mrs.
Jones has suffered enough on account of it. Indeed, I don't think
_she_ ought to be blamed in the matter at all; it was her
misfortune, not her fault."

"So I think. In fact, I believe she is just as worthy of respect and
kindness as Mrs. Todd."

"No doubt of it in the world; and from me she shall always receive
it."

"And from me also."

In this way the circle spread, so that before two weeks had elapsed,
there were no less than twenty different notions held about Mrs.
Todd's behaviour to Mrs. Jones. Some talked very seriously about
cutting the acquaintance of Mrs. Jones also, while others took her
side and threatened to give up the acquaintance of Mrs. Todd.

Thus matters stood, when a mutual friend, who wished to do honour to
some visitors from a neighbouring city, sent out invitations for a
party. Before these invitations were despatched, it was seriously
debated whether it would do to invite both Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Todd,
considering how matters stood between them. The decision was in
favour of letting them take care of their own difficulties.

"If I thought Mrs. Todd would be there, I am sure I wouldn't go,"
said Mrs. Jones, on receiving her card of invitation.

"I hardly think that would be acting wisely," replied her husband.
"You are not conscious of having wronged Mrs. Todd. Why, then,
should you shun her?"

"But it is so unpleasant to meet a person with whom you have been
long intimate, who refuses to speak to you."

"No doubt it is. Still we ought not to go out of our way to shun
that person. Let us, while we do not attempt to interfere with the
liberties of others, be free ourselves. Were I in your place, I
would not move an inch to keep out of her way."

"I have not your firmness. I wish I had. It was only yesterday that
I crossed the street to keep from meeting her face to face."

"You were wrong."

"I can't help it; it is my weakness. Three times already have I put
myself about to avoid her; and if I could frame any good excuse for
staying away from this party, I certainly should do so. I would give
any thing for a good sick-headache on Tuesday next."

"I am really ashamed of you, Ellen. I thought you more of a woman,"
said Mr. Jones.

The night of the party at length came round. During the whole day
preceding it, Mrs. Jones could think of nothing but the unpleasant
feelings she would have upon meeting with Mrs. Todd, and her "heart
was in her mouth" all the time. She wished a dozen times that it
would rain. But her wishes availed nothing; not a cloud was to be
seen in the clear blue firmament from morning until evening.

"Oh, if I only had some good excuse for staying at home!" she said
over and over again; but no good excuse offered.

Mr. Jones saw that his wife was in a very unhappy state of mind, and
tried his best to cheer her, but with little good effect.

"It is no use to talk to me, I can't help it," she replied to his
remonstrance, in a husky voice. "I am neither a stock nor a stone."

"There's Mrs. Jones," said one friend to another, on seeing the lady
they named enter Mrs.--'s well-filled parlours.

"Where is Mrs. Todd?" asked the lady addressed.

"Sure enough! where is she?" replied the other. "Oh, there she is,
in the other room. I wonder why it is that she does not speak to
Mrs. Jones."

"No one knows."

"It's very strange."

"I'll tell you what I've heard."

"What?"

"That she's jealous of Mrs. Jones."

"Ridiculous!"

"Isn't it."

"I don't believe a word of it."

"Nor I. I only told you what I had heard."

"There must be some other reason."

"And doubtless is."

Meantime, Mrs. Jones found a seat in a corner, where she ensconced
herself, with the determination of keeping her place during the
evening, that she might avoid the unpleasantness of coming in
contact with Mrs. Todd. All this was, of course, very weak in Mrs.
Jones. But she had no independent strength of character, it must be
owned.

"Poor Mrs. Jones! How cut down she looks," remarked a lady who knew
all about the trouble that existed. "I really feel sorry for her."

"She takes it a great deal too much to heart," was the reply. "Mrs.
Todd might refuse to speak to me a dozen times, if she liked. It
wouldn't break my heart. But where is she?"

"In the other room, as gay and lively as ever I saw her. See, there
she is."

"Yes, I see her. Hark! You can hear her laugh to here. I must
confess I don't like it. I don't believe she has any heart. She must
know that Mrs. Jones is hurt at what she has done."

"Of course she does, and her manner is meant to insult her."

Seeing the disturbed and depressed state of Mrs. Jones's mind, two
or three of her friends held a consultation on the subject, and
finally agreed that they would ask Mrs. Todd, who seemed purposely
to avoid Mrs. Jones, why she acted towards her as she did. But
before they could find an opportunity of so doing, a messenger came
to say that one of Mrs. Todd's children had been taken suddenly ill.
The lady withdrew immediately.

Mrs. Jones, breathed more freely on learning that Mrs. Todd had gone
home. Soon after, she emerged from her place in the corner, and
mingled with the company during the rest of the evening.

Mrs. Todd, on arriving at home, found one of her children quite
sick; but it proved to be nothing serious. On the following morning,
the little fellow was quite well again.

On that same morning, three ladies, personal friends of Mrs. Todd,
met by appointment, and entered into grave consultation. They had
undertaken to find out the cause of offence that had occurred, of so
serious a character as to lead Mrs. Todd to adopt so rigid a course
towards Mrs. Jones, and, if possible, to reconcile matters.

"The sickness of her child will be a good excuse for us to call upon
her," said one. "If he is better, we can introduce the matter
judiciously."

"I wonder how she will take it?" suggested another.

"Kindly, I hope," remarked the third.

"Suppose she does not?"

"We have done our duty."

"True. And that consciousness ought to be enough for us."

"She is a very proud woman, and my fear is that, having taken an
open and decided stand, will yield to neither argument nor
persuasion. Last night she overacted her part. While she carefully
avoided coming in contact with Mrs. Jones, she was often near her,
and on such occasions talked and laughed louder than at any other
time. I thought, once or twice, that there was something of malice
exhibited in her conduct."

To this, one of the three assented. But the other thought
differently. After some further discussion, and an ineffectual
attempt to decide which of them should open the matter to Mrs. Todd,
the ladies sallied forth on their errand of peace. They found Mrs.
Todd at home, who received them in her usual agreeable manner.

"How is your little boy?" was the first question, after the first
salutations were over.

"Much better than he was last night, I thank you. Indeed, he is
quite as well as usual."

"What was the matter with him, Mrs. Todd?"

"It is hard to tell. I found him with a high fever, when I got home.
But it subsided in the course of an hour. Children often have such
attacks. They will be quite sick one hour, and apparently well the
next."

"I am very glad to hear that it is nothing serious," said one of the
ladies. "I was afraid it might have been croup, or something as
bad."

There was a pause.

"It seemed a little unfortunate," remarked one of the visitors, "for
it deprived you of an evening's enjoyment."

"Yes, it does appear so, but no doubt it is all right. I suppose you
had a very pleasant time?"

"Oh, yes. Delightful!"

"I hadn't seen half my friends when I was summoned away. Was Mrs.
Williams there?"

"Oh, yes."

"And Mrs. Gray?"

"Yes."

"And Mrs. Elder?"

"Yes."

"I didn't see either of them."

"Not a word about Mrs. Jones," thought the ladies.

A light running conversation, something after this style, was kept
up, with occasional pauses, for half an hour, when one of the
visitors determined to come to the point.

"Mrs. Todd--a-hem!" she said in one of the pauses that always take
place in uninteresting conversation.

The lady's tone of voice had so changed from what it was a few
moments before, that Mrs. Todd looked up at her with surprise. No
less changed was the lady's countenance. Mrs. Todd was mistified.
But she was not long in doubt.

"A-hem! Mrs. Todd, we have come to--to--as friends--mutual
friends--to ask you"--

The lady's voice broke down; but two or three "a-hems!" partially
restored it, and she went on. "To ask why you refused to--to--speak
to Mrs. Jones?"

"Why I refused to speak to Mrs. Jones?" said Mrs. Todd, her cheek
flushing.

"Yes. Mrs. Jones is very much hurt about it, and says she cannot
imagine the reason. It has made her very unhappy. As mutual friends,
we have thought it our duty to try and reconcile matters. It is on
this errand that we have called this morning. Mrs. Jones says she
met you for the last time about two weeks ago, and that you refused
to speak to her. May we ask the reason."

"You may, certainly," was calmly replied.

Expectation was now on tiptoe.

"What, then, was the reason?"

"_I did not see her_."

"What? Didn't you refuse to speak to her?"

"Never in my life. I esteem Mrs. Jones too highly. If I passed her,
as you say, without speaking, it was because I did not see her."

In less than half an hour, Mrs. Todd was at the house of Mrs. Jones.
What passed between the ladies need not be told.

ALMOST A TRAGEDY.

A REMINISCENCE OF MR. JOHN JONES.

IT is now about five years since I met with a little adventure in
the West, which may be worth relating. It caused me a good deal of
excitement at first; regrets afterward, for the temporary pain I
inflicted, and many a hearty laugh since. New things come up so
rapidly that it is almost impossible to keep the run of them, and it
is not at all surprising that those who are content to go along in
the good old way should now and then be caught napping. I own that I
was, completely.

Business took me out West, in the spring of 18--, and kept me in
Ohio for the entire summer of that year. After a hard day's ride, in
the month of August, I entered, just before nightfall, a certain
town lying on the National Road, where I expected to remain for a
week. After taking possession of my room at the hotel; shaving,
washing, and improving my appearance in other respects, I came down
and took a seat in the porch that ran along the front of the house.
I had not been here very long before the stage from the East drove
up, and the passengers, who were to take supper, as this was a
stage-house, alighted. Among them, I noticed a woman with a pale,
emaciated, and, I would have said, dying child in her arms. Her face
was anxious and haggard in its expression. She was accompanied by a
man, whom I rightly supposed to be her husband. He immediately went
to the bar and engaged a room, saying that his child was too sick to
permit them to continue their journey.

"Do you wish a doctor?" asked the landlord.

"No," replied the man. "We have medicine, prescribed by our own
physician before we left home. If that does no good, we have little
confidence in any other remedies."

No more was said. The man was shown to his room, whither he retired
with his wife and sick child. The room, it so happened, was next to
mine, and the two rooms communicated by a door, which was of course
closed and fastened.

The emaciated child and anxious mother presented a sight that fixed
itself upon my mind, and excited my liveliest sympathies. I could
not get them from my thoughts.

About ten o'clock that night, I took a candle and went to my room.
Before undressing myself, I sat down at a table to make some entries
of collections and expenses, and to think over and arrange my
business for the next day. All was still, except now and then a
slight movement in the next chamber, where the parents were sitting
up with their sick child.

"What did you give him last?" I heard the father say, in a low, but
distinct tone.

"Aconite," was as distinctly replied.

This I knew to be a deadly poison. I listened, you may be sure, with
a more earnest attention.

"How many grains?" was next asked.

"Two," replied the mother.

Two grains of aconite! My hair began to rise. "I think we had better
increase the dose to five grains."

Horrible!

"It's an hour since he took the last, and I see no change," said the
mother. "Perhaps we had better try the arsenic."

My blood ran cold at this murderous proposition. I felt like
starting up, bursting open the door, and confronting them in their
dreadful work. But, as if spell-bound, I remained where I was. To
the last proposition, the man replied--"I would rather see the
aconite tried in a larger dose. If, in half an hour, there is no
visible effect from it, then we will resort to the arsenic."

"If you think it best," said the mother, in a low sad voice--(well
she might be sad over such awful work)--"let us try the aconite
again, but in a larger dose. You will find it on the mantelpiece."

I heard the deliberate tread of the man, as he crossed the room for
a larger dose of the poison, while I hurriedly deliberated the
question of what I should do. Before I could make up my mind to act,
I heard his returning step. A few moments of awful stillness
succeeded. I felt as if I were in the centre of a sphere, with the
gravitating forces from every point of the circumference upon me. I
don't think I could have moved a limb to save my life.

"There; let us see what they will do," came distinctly upon my ear.

Gracious Heaven! the deed was done. Five grains of aconite given to
the tender child, already on the verge of death! The cold sweat came
out over my whole body, and stood in clammy drops upon my forehead.
All was still. Death was doing his awful work in silence. I sat
motionless, under the influence of a strange irresolution or
imbecility of mind, unable to determine what steps to take in a
matter where all now seems as plain to me as days light. I do not
know what came over me. The fact only shows how, when placed in
certain positions, we become paralyzed, and unable to act even with
common decision. I remember saying to myself, as a justification for
not interfering at this stage of the proceedings--

"It is too late now. Five and three are eight. Eight grains of
aconite! There is no longer a vestige of hope for the child. Death
is as certain as if a bullet were fired through the sufferer's
head."

I did not stir from where I sat, but tried to hush my deep
breathing, and quiet the loud pulsations of my heart, lest even they
should be heard and betray my proximity to the wretches.

Half an hour passed. There was a movement, and the murmuring sound
of voices,--but, though I listened eagerly, I was not able to make
out what was said. I heard the tread of a man across the floor, and
I also heard his return. I thought of the arsenic, and said to
myself, at the same time, "They will not need that." The woman was
speaking. I listened.

"Was that the arsenic?"

"Yes."

"How many grains did you give him?"

"I meant to give him three, but, in mistake, gave him six or seven."

It was too late, now, for any interference. But, I was determined
that the wretches should not escape. I was an ear-witness to their
murderous act, and I resolved to bring them to the light. While I
thus mused and resolved, I was thrilled by a long, tremulous cry
from the dying child. All was again still as death, save an
occasional deep sob, that seemed bursting up from the remnant of
stifled nature in the mother's bosom. Again that cry arose suddenly
on the air, but feebler and shorter. The mother's sob now became a
moan, and soon changed to a low, wailing cry. Her child was dead.
The fatal drugs had too surely done their murderous work. But why
should she weep over the precious babe her own hand had destroyed?
and why came there, now and then, from that chamber of death, a deep
sighing moan, struggling up in spite of all efforts to repress it,
from the breast of the miserable father? Strange enigma! I could not
read, satisfactorily to myself, the difficult solution.

I still remained quiet where I was. In a little while I heard the
father go out, and listened to his footsteps until they became lost
in silence. Soon the hasty tread of several feet were heard, and two
or three females entered the room. Their presence caused the woman
to cry bitterly.

"False-hearted, cruel wretch!" I could not help muttering to myself.
"Hypocritical cries and crocodile tears will not hide your sin. An
ear of which you dreamed not has heard your hellish plots, and been
witness to your hellish deeds upon the body of your poor babe. You
cannot escape. The voice of blood cries from the very ground. The
hope of the murderer is vain. He cannot hide himself from the
pursuer."

For half the night, I lay awake, thinking of what had occurred, and
settling in my mind the course of proceeding to adopt in the
morning. I was up long before sunrise--in fact, long before anybody
else was stirring--awaiting the appearance of the landlord, to whom
it was my intention to give information of the dreadful deed that
had been committed. Full an hour elapsed before he made his
appearance. I immediately drew him aside.

"There has been a death in the house," said I.

"Yes," he replied. "The poor sick child that was brought here by the
Eastern stage last evening died in the night. I did not suppose it
would live till morning. To me, it seemed in a dying state when its
parents arrived."

"There has been foul play," said I, with emphasis. "That child has
not died a natural death."

"How so? What do you mean?" asked the landlord, with a look of
surprise.

"I mean what I say," was my reply. "As sure as I am a living man,
that child has been murdered." I then related all I had heard, to
the horror and astonishment of the landlord.

"A deed like this must not go unpunished," he said, sternly and
angrily. "It is horrible to think of it."

After talking over the matter for some time, it was determined to
call a council of half a dozen of the regular boarders in the house,
as soon as breakfast was over, and decide upon the steps best to be
taken. Accordingly, after breakfast, a few of us assembled in a
private parlour, and I again related, with minuteness, all that I
had heard. After sundry expressions of horror and indignation, a
gentleman said to me--"Are you sure it was grains or granules of
aconite and arsenic that were given to the child?"

"Grains, sir," I replied, promptly.

"This is a serious matter," he added; "and if there should be any
mistake, it would be sad indeed to harrow the feelings of those
bereaved parents by so dreadful a charge as that of the murder of
their own offspring. My own impression is, that our friend here is
under a mistake."

"Can't I believe my own ears, sir?" said I, a little indignantly.

"Don't misunderstand me," returned the gentleman, politely. "I don't
doubt you have heard all you say, and it may be even to the word
grains; but I am under the impression that the arsenic and aconite
given were in the homœopathic preparations, and therefore no longer
poisonous."

There was a long pause after this was said; every one present seemed
to breathe more freely. I had heard of homœopathy, and something
about infinitesimal doses, but had never seen the medicine used,
neither did I know any thing about the mode in which it was
sometimes practised.

"Suppose we send for the man," suggested the landlord, "and question
him,--but in a way not to wound him, if he be innocent."

This, after some debate, was agreed upon, and a servant was sent to
his room with a request that he would come to the parlour. He obeyed
the summons instantly, but looked a good deal surprised when he saw
a grave assembly of six or seven persons. The gentleman who had
expressed the doubt in the man's favour, said to him, as soon as he
had taken his seat--"We have learned, sir, with sincere regret, that
you were so unfortunate as to lose your child last night--a severe
affliction. Though strangers, we deeply sympathize with you."

The man expressed his thanks, in a few words, for the kind feelings
manifested, and said that, as it was their only child, they felt the
affliction more severely, but were still willing to submit to the
loss, as a Divine dispensation, grievous to be borne, yet intended
for good.

"You did not call in a physician," said the individual who had at
first addressed him.

"No," replied the man. "Before starting for Cincinnati, yesterday
morning, we learned that, no matter how ill our child might become,
we could not get the advice of a homœopathic physician until we
reached home, and we were not willing to trust our child in the
hands of any other. We, therefore, before commencing our journey,
obtained medicine, and advice how to administer it should alarming
symptoms occur."

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