The Daily Manchester American

What I Went Through to Get Her.
(Concluded from yesterday.)
I dressed myself as fast as I could, in
hopes of getting a word with Sarah before
dinner; and the dearest girl anticipated my
wish, for on opening the drawing room door,
I saw she was there alone.
Time was precious, so the one minute devoted to rapture being over, I said; "Adored
one, can you give me a hint?"
"Yes, you made a favorable impression at
Scarborough, and will easily get on; at
least I always do by humoring them. They
both spoil me. Never mind a little roughness; they mean nothing. Aunt is the dearest, most lovable, kindest of women, so long
as she has her own way, and is not contra-
dicted. She is rather a bigot, so you had
better put your liberality in your pocket;
and she thinks a good deal of her family—
was a Miss. Montgomery, and brought this
estate to uncle."
"Ah! and Sir George?"
"Well, you must be very good, and keep
your temper. Uncle is a dear, dear man,
but rather inclined to order people about.
You see aunt rules him, so he likes to rule
others. His temper is somewhat violent at
times, but he soon comes round, if not op-
posed; and then he tries to atone for what
he has said or done while angry. Oh, I al-
most forgot; above all things, be very punctual: if you are ever late for breakfast or
dinner, I will not answer for the consequen-
ces; and is there anything else? yes, if you
could take snuff, it would please him. There
goes the bugle!" And to the tune of O the
Roast Beef of Old England. Sir George and
Lady Potts entered the room.
"Welcome, Mr. Pans, to Montgomery
Hall," said the lady, graciously according
me her hand.
"How de do? glad to see you," said the
colonel. "Ready for the birds to-morrow?
Have a pinch?"
Mindful of the final hint I had received
from Sarah, I accepted the offer, and tried
to drop the snuff while pretending, with
much apparent enjoyment, to draw it up into my nose; but a few grains more volatile
than the rest insisted on making their way
in, and I found it necessary to blow that organ.
"Niff, niff. Bless my soul how disgust-
ing! Niff, niff. What can it be? Why it,
is your handkerchief! It's musk! Young
man, you are offensive; come with me,"
said Sir George.
I am not over-patient by nature, and felt
all the blood in my body fly to my face at
this insult; but I thought of the stake I
was playing for, swallowed my anger and
followed him.
"Throw the thing down. John, take that
handkerchief away," said he, when we had
reached the hall. "This way, Mr. Pans;"
and led me into his study, opened a folding
washing stand, poured water into the
basin, and said, pointing to it: "Wash!"
I obeyed him, and we returned to the drawing room.
"My lady is served," the butler presently
announced; and as he did not speak literal-
ly, in which case we should have had but a
tough and scraggy dinner, but metaphorical-
ly, I offered my arm.
"John," said Lady Potts to the footman
who brought her soup, "is Flora well enough,
to come down?"
"No, my lady. Susan has been trying to
get her to eat something all day, but the
smell of food even seems to go against her."
"Oh, the poor suffering darling! Oh,
the sweet pet! I hope she will not die."
"I hope she will!" I mentally ejaculated
for a horrible suspicion flashed across my
mind. Who was this Flora? a new favorite,
an adopted child, destined to cause the dis-
location of the principal facial ornament of
my beloved Sarah? Dreadful thought, which
I drowned in a glass of champagne, for,
anyhow, there was the dowry, and even at
the very worst, the dinner before me was
most excellent, the wine delicious; and was
I not by profession an epicurean philoso-
pher?
But at present we live in a benign age;
and my hosts grew almost good tempered
under the influence of good cookery and
generous wine. Sir John condescended to
explain that his aversion to the scent arose
from the disgust he had acquired for musk-
rats in Semetry Island; and Lady Potts
grew quite natural, and gave me many minute details of the sagacity of a favorite cat
she had once had, whereupon I told her several interesting anecdotes relating to that
wofully misunderstood animal, which shall
not be confided to an undiscerning public
apt to confound poetical embellishment with
want of truthfulness.
I could not manage to enjoy much conversation with my beloved Sarah, but consoled
myself with the reflection that if all went
well, I should get quite enough before
"death or the poor-law commissioners us did
part."
When the ladies had withdrawn, the colonel ensconced himself in an easy chair, and began pumping me in so obvious a manner
that I had no difficulty in flowing to his entire satisfaction. At the end of about a bottle, he threw his napkin over his head and
said:
"Ring when you want more claret. When
you have had enough, go to the ladies, and
make no noise."
And presently he snored.
When I entered the drawing-room, I found
Sarah asleep on the sofa, and Lady Potts
hanging over a basket adorned with pink
silk.
Was it a poor little dear suffering angel, den! Was a pretty creature with its
little brown eyes.
Flora, doubtless! It was an infant, that,
that had seduced the affections of the capri-
cious lady from my Sarah—a mere infant!
Surely babycide cannot be very wrong; one
might have an accident and sit on the thing,
and nobody be a bit the wiser. Such were
my thoughts as I approached the basket, in
which, to my intense relief, I saw a very fat,
black and tan spaniel, with long silky hair,
and very apoplectic eyes.
"What a beautiful dog!" I exclaimed
"is it ill?"
"Oh, very, very ill. Poor dear Flora,
she has quite lost her appetite, she who always enjoyed her food so! She has eaten
nothing to-day but the wing of a chicken
and a few macaroons."
"If you will allow me to examine her, I
may be of some service: I am used to. Ah!
I see, very short breath, finds it difficult to
stand. My dear Lady Potts, if this dog is
not attended to, she will die."
"Oh, Mr. Pans. Poor Flora! what shall
I do?"
Well, I think I can save her if she were
left entirely in my hands; but above all
things no one must feed her but myself."
"Thank you dear Mr. Pans: I will give
directions. Oh, I shall be ever grateful to
you if you should prove the blessed instru-
ment of restoring my sweet doggy to health
again!"
Sarah now woke up and joined us, and we
had tea, and conversed on a variety of interesting topics; such as the antiquity of the
Montgomery family, the general decay of
old county families and the sad prevalence
of 'new men;' and the selfishness and in-
gratitude of the lower classes generally, and
the moral tendency of any efforts to do anything for them; and in short, I exerted myself to the utmost of my power to tickle my
lady's vanity and self complacency, and to
make her sensible that, while society owed
numberless duties towards her, she owed
none to society; I flatter myself I made a
considerable impression.
Lady Potts went to the other end of the
room for some work, and I whispered to Sarah: "Will that do?"
"Ah! you dreadful hypocrite: it is quite
shocking! I shall never know when to believe you in earnest," she replied, looking
half frightened, half amused.
"It is very unpleasant. Nothing but the
hope of winning you could make me stoop
to such a course of proceeding."
"Oh, yes; I know it was necessary: indeed, it was I who advised it. But whatever my uncle and aunt's foibles, and however
they behave to others, they are most kind to
me, and it pains me to see their weak points
so drawn out."
The colonel came in yawning, had a cup
of tea, and then told me to get the back-
gammon board and play a bit with him;
which I did, playing as badly as possible,
and never taking him up but once, when I
could not help it; on which occasion he got
into so violent a passion that I was glad of
my previous forbearance; but as I managed
to let him gammon me that very game, he
soon recovered what I supposed he called,
good humor.
Soon the sounds of the bugle were once
more heard in the hall.
There it is half past ten, " cried Sir George,
"Good night Mr. Pans. Now go to your
bed room. If you want to read, you will
find plenty of books, papers, magazines, &c.,
in the library: and if you wish to smoke
you may."
Dressing-gowned, slippered, cigared, easy-
chaired, paper knifed, and Edinburgh Reviewed, I was reposing after my labors, dangers, and sufferings, when there came a knock
at the door.
"Who is there?"
"Orders, sir."
Orders! What is that? Come in."
A man servant entered with a book bound
in red and having a brazen clasp, which he
opened, and pointed out to me a particular
page, from which I read:
Montgomery Hall, August 31, 18—
"Mr. Pans, of Lincolnshire, gent, arrived
here this day on a visit. The family will assemble for breakfast to-morrow morning at
8 A. M., in the library. Colonel Sir George
Potts and Mr. Pans will go out shooting at
9:30; lunching at Bat's Copse at 1, and returning to dinner at 5:20 P. M.—Miss Potts
will ride Mabel at 2 P. M. to-morrow, William
attending her on Merriman. The cook will
attend Colonel Sir George Potts in his study,
immediately after breakfast. Lady Potts'
spaniel Flora is placed under the care of Mr.
Pans, until further orders"
There were several other directions to different servants concerning their duties, past,
present, or to come; but nothing more affecting myself, so I shut the book, and handed
it to the servant, who said: "Lady Potts
wishes to know whether you want her brought
here, sir."
Concluded from the first page.

'Brought here! Lady Potts! Good heavens! Oh, ah—the spaniel! No, no; let her be taken to the stables. My compliments to Lady Potts, and say the smell of horses is part of my system.'

I fancy I detected the ghost of a grin on the man's face as he quitted the room, leaving me oppressed with one fearful fact—breakfast at eight! It hardly seemed worth while to go to bed at all, if one was expected to rouse up in the dead of night like that; why, one would have to get up at seven!

However, I considered that other people had done such things, and that what man had done, man could do again: so I turned in. But my sleep was restless and broken, haunted as I was by the idea of having to get up at a stated time; I kept dreaming I was late for breakfast, starting up in affright, and sinking to sleep again.

Waking after the soundest of these naps, I found daylight streaming in through the window, and leaped out of bed into my bath in great alarm, not doubting that I had overslept myself. It was only while toweling my back that I glanced at my watch, and discovered that it was but six o'clock.

However, I was wide awake; there was no use in turning in again, so I made up my mind to devote an hour before breakfast to Miss Flora; when I had done dressing, I went down to the stables, meeting on my way the man who had brought me the order book the night before, carrying up my boots and hot water, who told me that I should find the dog in the loose box dedicated to Lady Potts's mare. The highly favored animal was undergoing the morning operation of grooming with great patience and equanimity; fat, mild eyed, and satiny, the only signs she gave of vitality were an occasional whisk of the tail, and the laziest of imitations of a threat to bite when the groom attacked some peculiarly tender portion of her person, or when a dreamy curiosity incited her to smell Flora, who lay wheezing in the straw hard by.

'Fine morning,' said I to the groom, who was emitting that peculiar sibilation common to stable men, and which must be so galling to the horses at Astley's if they partake of the sensibilities of biped actors.

''Tis-s-s-s-s— is·s-s-s-s -tis-s-s-s. Eees, sir, tis-s s-s s.'

'Leave off hissing, my lad, and listen to me for a moment, will you? Your lady wants that dog to get well; you know what is the matter with it?'

'Eees.'

'Then you know it only wants less victuals and more running about.'

'Eees.'

'Well, then, can you keep your mouth shut?'

'Eees.' (a broad grin.)

'Then here is a half a sovereign for you.'

'Thankee, sir,' (a broader.)

'Don't you give her anything to eat to-day, and whenever you come into the stable, make her move about. I will take her for a walk now. Have you got a collar and a piece of string?'

He soon produced those articles, also a bit of soap.

'A good idea,' said I; and in spite of the tears and supplications of the patient, we administered a saponaceous pill. I then took the fair Flora in my arms, and carried her tenderly through the shrubbery, till we were out of sight of the house, when I put her down, and adjusting the collar and string, invited her to take a waddle; as she declined, I gave the string a pull, but without effect; she did not mind hanging, it was exertion she objected to. So, remembering that persuasion is better than force, I drew a whip from the pocket of my shooting jacket. Let us draw a veil over the scene. Suffice it, that when she had taken a proper amount of exercise, I took off her collar and carried her back to the stable.

'I saw you from my window carrying Flora for a walk this morning; how kind of you!' said Lady Potts, as I entered the breakfast-room at two minutes before eight, and her eyes were more eloquent than her lips.

Punctually at the appointed minute, Col. Potts, myself, a gamekeeper, and four dogs started off under a blazing sun for the nearest stubble field, which we traversed, I on the right, Sir George on the left, the gamekeeper in rear, and the dogs scouring before us; but as there were no birds, we arrived at the other end guiltless of blood. Directly we entered the second field, however, which was also stubble, a dog immediately in front of me, made a dead point. Cocking both locks, I was advancing cautiously, when I heard hasty footsteps, a panting and puffing, and finally, words spoken in a loud whisper.

'Stop, Stop—you stop!' So I stopped, and the Colonel advanced in front of me.

It was very trying, but Sarah must not be lost for a shot. Up got the covey; bang, bang, went Sir George, visibly a yard above them.

'Mark them, Thomas; I am sure that old one is hit hard!'

If this was the case, the 'old one' took his punishment like a hero, for he certainly showed no signs of it as he skimmed away with his spouse and family.

'I always miss my first shot,' growled the colonel as he reloaded.

The next point was on his beat fairly enough. Again the covey rose; again he blazed away with both barrels harmlessly.—Two of the birds however, who were lazy or greedy, or weak in the wing, delayed getting up with the rest, from whom they had strayed considerable to the right, and were not frightened up by the report. I am only a middling shot; but they were so young and flew so slowly that I knocked them both over.

'Hang you, what do you fire at my wounded birds for?' screamed Sir George, foaming with rage.

Your wounded birds, sir?

'Yes sir, my wounded birds! As neat a shot as ever I made in my life—one to each barrel. You could not beat that yourself, Thomas—eh?'

'It was a fair shot your honor.'

'Do you hear that, sir? Do you hear what the gamekeeper says? You are a jealous shot sir; and I hate a jealous shot like the—

'But, Sir George,' I expostulated 'you mistake; I thought the rest of the covey were within range, and fired at them.'

'Then you own those to be your birds?'

'Certainly.'

'Oh, ah, hum! Pick them up Thomas.'

Thomas was very busy lacing one of his boots; when he rose, his face was crimson—from stooping. I suppose.

Next shot he had, the colonel really did hit a bird, which put him in such good humor that he did not claim the next I bagged, and so we went on till luncheon, the birds being so plentiful, tame, and weak on the wing, that we made a pretty fair bag—the colonel hitting about twice out of every five times, and I managing to palm some of my victims off as his.

Next morning, I again rose early, treated Flora to a little gentle exercise on an empty stomach, and again went out shooting with the colonel.

This time I kept close to him all day, and whenever an occasion offered, fired simultaneously, and vowed that he had hit and I had missed, for I had seen the bird I aimed at fly away: this I did with expressions of vexation and impatience, which nearly threw poor Thomas into an apoplexy with suppressed laughter, while the colonel positively chuckled with triumphant delight.

So we went on, the old people liking me and I hating them more and more every day; Sarah growing more and more beautiful and cheerful as cause for anxiety seemed to diminish; and Flora rapidly gaining health and symmetry under a course of biscuit and whip. Indeed, at the end of a week, I allowed an interview between dog and mistress; and so delighted was the lady with the recovery of her favorite that I obtained that very evening my first earnest of ultimate success.

'I wish to speak with you before you give the orders,' said Lady Potts to Sir George, when we broke up for the night; and when the order book, with the brazen clasp, came round to my bedroom door, I read the following sentence.

Mr. Pans will attend Miss Sarah Potts in her ride at 2:30 p. m. to-morrow.

Before pheasant-shooting began, I returned to London like a good bill accepted. Ere the last longtail had fallen, my bankers account rose from two figures to four, and I was the blest proprietor of an angelic being who is now taking such a preposterous time about putting on her—I mean my bonnet.

I may be considered as a sort of matrimonial snipe, having got my wife by suction.

Has my moral character suffered, I wonder? I think it would be less unpleasant to pick a pocket or swindle a tradesman, than it may have been a year ago; but in revenge I am less likely to be tempted to commit such acts; and if I respect myself a little less all my acquaintances respect me a great deal more.

Why, you may do almost anything for a large fortune, just as you may commit any crime from perjury to treason and murder for a kingdom, and never lose caste. But then, you must be successful.