h work almost as much mischief and
misery as those offences against public peace which the laws declare
penal. I confess Mrs. Potter is my _bete-noire_, and I feel as no
doubt Paul did when he wrote to Timothy: 'Alexander the coppersmith
did me much evil; the Lord reward him according to his works.'"

"Mother, what reply did you make to her? I can imagine you towering
like Mrs. Siddons."

"You may be sure I unmasked a battery. I looked straight into her
little faded grey eyes, which straggle away from each other as if
ashamed of their mutual ferret experiences,--for you know one looks
out so, and one turns always up,--and I answered, that my brother had
been exceedingly fortunate, as, notwithstanding the numerous
matrimonial nets adroitly spread for him, he had escaped, like the
Psalmist, 'as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers,' and fled for
safety unto the mountain of celibacy. Bishop, if the new school of
science lack the link that binds us to the ophidian type, I can
furnish a thoroughly 'developed' specimen of an 'evolved' Melusina;
for Mrs. Pru's ancestors must have been not very remotely,
cobra-capellos. Such a chronic blister as she is keeps up more
inflammation in a church than all the theology at Andover can cool.
As for general society here in V----, she damages it more than all
the three hundred foxes of Samson did the corn-fields, vineyards,
and olives of the Philistines. What are you laughing at?"

"The ludicrous dismay that will seize you when the constablery of
your progressive civilization notify you that you must emigrate to
the Gossip and Slander Reservation. Poor Mrs. Prudence Potter! from
my earliest recollection she has been practising archery upon the
target of her neighbours' characters, and she seeks social martyrdom
as diligently as Sir Galahad hunted the Sangreal. In the form of
ostracism, I think she is certainly reaping her reward. Mother, let
her rest."

"With all my heart! ''tis a consummation devoutly to be wished;' but
that is just the last thing she proposes, until the muscles of her
tongue and eyes are paralyzed. Rest indeed! Did you ever see a hyena
caged in a menagerie? Did you ever know it to rest for an instant
from its snarling, snapping, grinning round? My son, I would not for
my right hand malign or injure her, but how can I sincerely indulge
charitable reflections concerning a person who has so persistently
persecuted your uncle?"

"Then, dear little mother, do not th