comfort.” 

 And then there was a long pause, during which she appeared to be engaged in deep reflection, and her niece continued her embroidery in peace. The pause endured until a sudden sneeze on the part of the old lady set the wheels of conversation turning again. 

 “Arethusa,” she said, “I wish you’d go an’ get the ink an’ write to Mr. Stebbins. I want him to begin to look up another college with good references right away. I don’t want to waste any of the boy’s life, an’ if bein’ suspended means waitin’ while the college takes its time to consider whether it wants him back again or not I ain’t goin’ to wait. I’m a great believer in a college education, but I don’t know that it cuts much figure whether it’s the same college right through or not. Anyway, you write Mr. Stebbins.” 

 Arethusa obeyed, and the authorities having seen fit to be uncommonly discreet as to the cause of the young man’s withdrawal, no great difficulty was experienced in finding another campus whereon Aunt Mary’s pride and joy might freely disport himself. Mr. Stebbins threw himself into the affair with all the tact and ardor of an experienced legal mind and soon after Lucinda’s return to her home allowed Arethusa to follow suit, the hopeful younger brother of the latter became a candidate for his second outfit of new sweaters and hat bands that year. 

 Aunt Mary wrote him a letter upon the occasion of his new start in life, Mr. Stebbins delivered him a lecture, and things went smoothly in consequence for three whole weeks. I say three whole weeks because three whole weeks was a long time for the course of Jack’s life to flow smoothly. At the end of a fortnight affairs were always due to run more rapidly and three weeks produced, as a general thing, some species of climax. 

 The climax in this case came to time as usual his evil genius inciting the young man to attempt, one very dark night, the shooting of a cat which he thought he saw upon the back fence. Whether he really had seen a cat or not mattered very little in the later development of the matter. He was certainly successful as far as the going off of the gun was concerned, but the damage that resulted, resulted not to any cat, but to the arm of a next-door’s cook, who was peacefully engaged in taking in her week’s wash on the other side of the fence. The cook ceased abruptly to take in the wash, the affair was at once what is technically termed looked into, and three days later Jack became the defendant in a suit for damages. 

 

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