"I'm so much in the
habit of it. You're not so ritualistic yourself, and may be able to do
better."
"Give it back to me, my sing-sing-sonny," said the old lady; who at once
read as follows: "DEAR MADAM, I write from the chair which I have now
occupied for six hours, in the house of a man whom I never saw before in
my life, but who comes next in the Directory to the obstinate but
finally conquered being under whose roof I resolutely passed the greater
part of yesterday. He sits near me in another chair, so much weakened
that he can just reply to me in whispers, and I believe that a few hours
more of my talk will leave him no choice between dying of exhaustion at
my feet and taking a Policy in the Boreal Life Insurance Company, of
which I am Agent. I have spoken to my wards, MONTGOMERY and MAGNOLIA
PENDRAGON, concerning MAGNOLIA'S being placed at school in the Macassar,
and MONTGOMERY'S acceptance of your son, OCTAVIUS, as his tutor, and
shall take them with me to Bumsteadville to-morrow, for such
disposition. Hoping, Madam, that neither you nor your son will much
longer fly into the face of Providence by declining to insure your
lives, through me, in the Boreal, I have the honor to be Yours, for two
Premiums, MELANCTHON SCHENCK.
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