"No," he would say with engaging candour--"no, that is a thing I cannot
advise you about myself. But," he would add, "I'll tell you what I'll
do. I'll write to my aunt and ask her." And a day or two afterwards he
would call again, bringing his aunt's advice with him; and, if you were
young and inexperienced, or a natural born fool, you might possibly
follow it.
She sent us a recipe on one occasion, through MacShaughnassy, for the
extermination of blackbeetles. We occupied a very picturesque old house;
but, as with most picturesque old houses, its advantages were chiefly
external. There were many holes and cracks and crevices within its
creaking framework. Frogs, who had lost their way and taken the wrong
turning, would suddenly discover themselves in the middle of our dining-
room, apparently quite as much to their own surprise and annoyance as to
ours. A numerous company of rats and mice, remarkably fond of physical
exercise, had fitted the place up as a gymnasium for themselves; and our
kitchen, after ten o'clock, was turned into a blackbeetles' club. They
came up through the floor and out through the walls, and gambolled there
in their light-hearted, reckless way till daylight.
The rats and mice Amenda did not object to. She said she liked to watch
them.
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