第3章 OBTAINING SUPPLIES.(3)

I blessed her in a fervent manner and a cool hall,fluttered round the corner,and bore down upon Milk Street,bent on discovering Mc K.if such a being was to be found.He wasn't,and the ignorance of the neighborhood was really pitiable.Nobody knew anything,and after tumbling over bundles of leather,bumping against big boxes,being nearly annihilated by descending bales,and sworn at by aggravated truckmen,I finally elicited the advice to look for Mc K.in Haymarket Square.Who my informant was I've really forgotten;for,having hailed several busy gentlemen,some one of them fabricated this delusive quietus for the perturbed spirit,who instantly departed to the sequestered locality he named.If I had been in search of the Koh-i-noor diamond I should have been as likely to find it there as any vestige of Mc K.I stared at signs,inquired in shops,invaded an eating house,visited the recruiting tent in the middle of the Square,made myself a nuisance generally,and accumulated mud enough to retard another Nile.All in vain:and I mournfully turned my face toward the General's,feeling that I should be forced to enrich the railroad company after all;when,suddenly,I beheld that admirable young man,brother-in-law Darby Coobiddy,Esq.I arrested him with a burst of news,and wants,and woes,which caused his manly countenance to lose its usual repose.

"Oh,my dear boy,I'm going to Washington at five,and I can't find the free ticket man,and there won't be time to see Joan,and I'm so tired and cross I don't know what to do;and will you help me,like a cherub as you are?""Oh,yes,of course.I know a fellow who will set us right,"responded Darby,mildly excited,and darting into some kind of an office,held counsel with an invisible angel,who sent him out radiant."All serene.I've got him.I'll see you through the business,and then get Joan from the Dove Cote in time to see you off."I'm a woman's rights woman,and if any man had offered help in the morning,I should have condescendingly refused it,sure that I could do everything as well,if not better,myself.My strong-mindedness had rather abated since then,and I was now quite ready to be a "timid trembler,"if necessary.

Dear me!how easily Darby did it all:he just asked one question,received an answer,tucked me under his arm,and in ten minutes I stood in the presence of Mc K.,the Desired.

"Now my troubles are over,"thought I,and as usual was direfully mistaken.

"You will have to get a pass from Dr.H.,in Temple Place,before Ican give you a pass,madam,"answered Mc K.,as blandly as if he wasn't carrying desolation to my soul.Oh,indeed!why didn't he send me to Dorchester Heights,India Wharf,or Bunker Hill Monument,and done with it?Here Iwas,after a morning's tramp,down in some place about Dock Square,and was told to step to Temple Place.Nor was that all;he might as well have asked me to catch a hummingbird,toast a salamander,or call on the man in the moon,as find a Doctor at home at the busiest hour of the day.It was a blow;but weariness had extinguished enthusiasm,and resignation clothed me as a garment.I sent Darby for Joan,and doggedly paddled off,feeling that mud was my native element,and quite sure that the evening papers would announce the appearance of the Wandering Jew,in feminine habiliments.

"Is Dr.H.in?"

"No,mum,he aint."

Of course he wasn't;I knew that before I asked:and,considering it all in the light of a hollow mockery,added:

"When will he probably return?"

If the damsel had said,"ten to-night,"I should have felt a grim satisfaction,in the fulfillment of my own dark prophecy;but she said,"At two,mum;"and I felt it a personal insult.

"I'll call,then.Tell him my business is important:"with which mysteriously delivered message I departed,hoping that I left her consumed with curiosity;for mud rendered me an object of interest.