FullReads

“Mrs. Hall’s, I believe?” said the General, to a servant answering the ponderous, lion-headed knocker.

“Yes, sah,” responded the sable waiter. “Walk dis way, sah, into de parlor, sah.”

The General stalked in, leisurely; around the fire-place were seated a dozen of the boarders, the aforesaid “big bugs” of the olden time. Not one moved to offer the stranger a seat by the fire, although his warm Southern blood was pretty well congealed by the frosty air of the evening. The General pulled off his gloves, laid down his great heavy and dusty valice, and quietly took a remote seat to await the presence of the landlady. She came, lofty and imposing; coming into the parlor, with her astute cap upon her majestic head, her gold spectacles upon her nose, as stately as a stage queen!

“Good evening,” said the gallant General, rising and making a very polite bow. “Mrs. Hall, I presume?”

“Yes, sir,” she responded, stiffly, and eyeing Lowndes with considerable diffidence. “Any business with me, sir?”

“Yes, madam,” responded the General, “I–a–purpose remaining in the city some time, and–a–I shall be pleased to put up with you.”

“That’s impossible, sir,” was the ready and decisive reply. “My house is full; I cannot accommodate you.”

“Well, really, that will be a disappointment, indeed,” said the General, “for I’m quite a stranger in the city, and may find it difficult to procure permanent lodgings.”

“I presume not, sir,” said she; “there are taverns enough, where strangers are entertained.”

The gentlemen around the fire, never offered to tender the stranger any information upon the subject, but several eyed him very hard, and doubtless felt pleased to see the discomfitted and ill-accoutred traveller seize his baggage, adjust his dusty coat, and start out, which he was evidently very loth to do.

Just as Lowndes had reached the parlor door, it occurred to him that Pinckney had recommended him to “put up” at the widow’s, and also had given him a letter of introduction to Mrs. Hall. This reminiscence caused the General to retrace his steps back into the parlor, where, placing his portmanteau on the table, he applied the key and opened it, and began fumbling around for his letters, to the no small wonder of the landlady and her respectable boarders.

“I have here, I believe, madam, a letter for you,” blandly said the General, still overhauling his baggage.

“A letter for me, sir?” responded the lady.

“Yes, madam, from an old friend of yours, who recommended me to stop with you. Ah, here it is, from your friend General Pinckney, of South Carolina.”

“General Pinckney!” echoed the landlady, all the gentlemen present cocking their eyes and ears! The widow tore open the letter, while Lowndes calmly fastened up his portmanteau, and all of a sudden, quite an incarnation spread its roseate hues over her still elegant features.

Lowndes seized his baggage, and, with a “good evening, madam, good evening, gentlemen,” was about to leave the institution, when the lady arrested him with:

“Stop, if you please, sir; this is General Lowndes, I believe?”

“General Lowndes, madam, at your service,” said he, with a dignified bow.

According to all accounts, just then, there was a very sudden rising about the fire-place, and a twinkling of chairs, as if they had all just been struck with the idea that there was a stranger about!

“Keep your seats, gentlemen,” said the General; “I don’t wish to disturb any of you, as I’m about to leave.”

“General Lowndes,” said the widow, “any friend of Mr. Pinckney is welcome to my house. Though we are full, I can make room for you, sir.”

The General stopped, and the widow and he became first-rate friends, when they became better acquainted.