DOI Artikel:
D'Arcy, Ella: Poor cousin Louis
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21215#0049
By Ella D'Arcy
45
" Oh, Cousin Louis, you mustn't think such things," said
Mrs. Poidevin serenely ; had not the poor old man accused her
to the Tourtels of filching his mattress feathers ?
" Ah, you don't believe me, my dear," said he, with a resig-
nation which was pathetic: u but you'll remember my words
when I am gone. Six dozen rat-tailed silver forks, with silver
candlesticks, and tray, and snuffers. Besides odd pieces, and piles
and piles of linen. Your cousin Marie was a notable housekeeper,
and everything she bought was of the very best. The large
table-cloths were five guineas apiece, my dear, British money—
five guineas apiece."
Louisa listened with perfect calmness and scant attention.
Circumstances too comfortable, and a too abundant diet, had
gradually undermined with her all perceptive and reflective
powers. Though, of course, had the household effects been
Coming to her as well as the land, she would have feit more
interest in them ; but it is only human nature to contemplate the
possible losses of others with equanimity.
" They must be handsome cloths, cousin," she said pleasantly ;
" I'm sure Pedvinn would never allow me half so much for mine."
At this moment there appeared, framed in the open window,
the hideous vision of an animated gargoyle, with elf-locks of
flaming red, and an intense malignancy of expression. With a
finger dragging down the under eyelid of either eye, so that the
eyeball seemed to bulge out—with a finger pulling back either
corner of the wide mouth, so that it seemed to touch the ear—this
repulsive apparition leered at the old man in blood-curdling
fashion. Then catching sight of Mrs. Poidevin, who sat dum-
founded, and with her " heart in her mouth," as she afterwards
expressed it, the fingers dropped from the face, the features sprang
back into position, and the gargoyle resolved itself into a buxom
red-haired
45
" Oh, Cousin Louis, you mustn't think such things," said
Mrs. Poidevin serenely ; had not the poor old man accused her
to the Tourtels of filching his mattress feathers ?
" Ah, you don't believe me, my dear," said he, with a resig-
nation which was pathetic: u but you'll remember my words
when I am gone. Six dozen rat-tailed silver forks, with silver
candlesticks, and tray, and snuffers. Besides odd pieces, and piles
and piles of linen. Your cousin Marie was a notable housekeeper,
and everything she bought was of the very best. The large
table-cloths were five guineas apiece, my dear, British money—
five guineas apiece."
Louisa listened with perfect calmness and scant attention.
Circumstances too comfortable, and a too abundant diet, had
gradually undermined with her all perceptive and reflective
powers. Though, of course, had the household effects been
Coming to her as well as the land, she would have feit more
interest in them ; but it is only human nature to contemplate the
possible losses of others with equanimity.
" They must be handsome cloths, cousin," she said pleasantly ;
" I'm sure Pedvinn would never allow me half so much for mine."
At this moment there appeared, framed in the open window,
the hideous vision of an animated gargoyle, with elf-locks of
flaming red, and an intense malignancy of expression. With a
finger dragging down the under eyelid of either eye, so that the
eyeball seemed to bulge out—with a finger pulling back either
corner of the wide mouth, so that it seemed to touch the ear—this
repulsive apparition leered at the old man in blood-curdling
fashion. Then catching sight of Mrs. Poidevin, who sat dum-
founded, and with her " heart in her mouth," as she afterwards
expressed it, the fingers dropped from the face, the features sprang
back into position, and the gargoyle resolved itself into a buxom
red-haired