F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
Chapter 57
imitate) to every visitor. The least neglect of duty will incur (she
tells him in language he cannot mistake) the penalty of thirty-nine
well laid on in the morning. In another minute her fat, chubby face
glows with smiles, her whole soul seems lighted up with childlike
enthusiasm; she has a warm welcome for each new comer, retorts
saliently upon her old friends, and says--"you know how welcome you
all are!" Then she curtsies with such becoming grace. "The house,
you know, gentlemen, is a commonwealth to-night." Ah! she
recognizes the tall, comely figure of Mr. Soloman, the accommodation
man. He did not spring from among the bevy of coat-takers, and
hood-retainers, at the extreme end of the great hall, nor from among
the heap of promiscuous garments piled in one corner; and yet he is
here, looking as if some magic process had brought him from a
mysterious labyrinth. "Couldn't get along without me, you see. It's
an ambition with me to befriend everybody. If I can do a bit of a
good turn for a friend, so much the better!" And he grasps the old
hostess by the hand with a self-satisfaction he rather improves by
tapping her encouragingly on the shoulder. "You'll make a right good
thing of this!--a clear thousand, eh?"
"The fates have so ordained it," smiles naively the old woman.
"Of course the fates could not ordain otherwise--"
"As to that, Mr. Soloman, I sometimes think the gods are with me,
and then again I think they are against me. The witches-they have
done my fortune a dozen times or more-always predict evil (I consult
them whenever a sad fit comes over me), but witches are not to be
depended upon! I am sure I think what a fool I am for consulting
them at all." She espies, for her trade of sin hath made keen her
eye, the venerable figure of Judge Sleepyhorn advancing up the hall,
masked. "Couldn't get along without you," she lisps, tripping
towards him, and greeting him with the familiarity of an intimate
friend. "I'm rather aristocratic, you'll say!--and I confess I am,
though a democrat in principle!" And Madame Flamingo confirms what