recal those observations which I made with respect to your house, but I do hope that you will in future keep good hours."
Aunt Eleanor now got out the wine, and requested Legge to help himself, which he, as a matter of course, did; but just as he had filled his glass, Mary came into the room, exclaiming—"We've found the eggs, ma'am; but, oh! in such a place!"
"Where did you find them?" demanded her mistress.
"In the pickle-tub, ma'am."
"In the pickle-tub?"
"Yes, ma'am; as cook was a fishing for a tongue, what should she find but the eggs, tied up in an old pair of Judkins's ———?
Here she stopped and blushed, and Aunt Eleanor blushed too, and the reverend gentleman turned to smile, but Legge, who had just got his mouth full of sherry, didn't know at all how to get rid of it. He blew out his cheeks, and grunted, and strained, while his face became crimson, and every vein visible, seemed in a fit state to burst, until, at length, he made a desperate effort to gulp it, but, as a portion of it went "the wrong way," that portion found out its mistake, and returned, and, by virtue of returning thus, caused him to spirt and to cough with unparalleled violence. This was annoying, but he really couldn't help it. Aunt Eleanor knew that he couldn't, and, therefore, in order to relieve him from embarrassment, appeared to be unconscious of the circumstance entirely, and, turning to Mary, said to her, "Has cook been quarrelling with Judkins?"
"No, ma'am: they've had a few words, but not about anything particular!"
"Very good," said her mistress, "you can now leave the room. "It is," she added, when Mary had left, "it is, I apprehend, as you suggested, Mr. Legge. These people, no doubt, have been quarrelling, and their object has been to annoy each other, This, however, must be ascertained, But have another glass of wine, Mr. Legge."
Legge was almost afraid, but he took another glass, and managed to drink it with proper effect, and, when Aunt Eleanor had thanked him for his attention, and the reverend gentleman had playfully entreated him to let him know immediately the " ghost" re-appeared, he bowed and left them to contemplate the case as it stood, and to devise the means of gaining the knowledge desired.
Now, while he was thus engaged at the cottage, Mrs. Legge—having ascertained from Mary the substance of' all that had occurred, with the single exception of the eggs being found in that peculiar envelope—had, as a natural matter of course, been retailing the circumstances to all who came, among whom were Mr, Pokey, Mr. Obadiah Drant, Mr. Click, Mr. Quocks, and Mr. Bobber. When, therefore, Legge returned, their anxiety to learn the minutiæ of that of which they had heard but the outline, was intense. They crowded round him, and urged him to begin at the beginning, and pressed him to drink, that he might open more freely; but Legge, having whispered to his wife, assumed an expression of mortification, and sat down in silence.
