before him, leaning heavily upon it with her fists, and saying, "Oh, sir!" consecutively several times, until her emotion was sufficiently calm to permit of rational speech. Then she asked him where he had been.
"It 's the talk of the whole town, sir! Oh! and me too! Never, I never thought to see you again!" at which point in her interrogation Mrs. Randle broke suddenly into a flood of tears, punctuated by sobs as explosive as they were sincere.
She sat down the better to enjoy this relief, and even as she had risen to its climax, and the Professor was being moved to louder and louder objurgation, the bell rang and the hammer knocked in a way that was not to be denied. The unfortunate man caught what glimpse he could from the window, and was horrified to see two officers of the law supported by a crowd grown to respectable dimensions, the foremost members of which were giving accurate information upon all that had happened.
The Philosopher summoned the manhood to open the door and to face his accusers. They were not so startled as Mrs. Randle, who now came up with red and tearful face and somewhat out of breath (but her weeping
