to the haunted house by the obscurest route he knew.
His mother was gone; but she came back, by and by,
with the news of the grand reception at Patsy Cooper’s,
and soon persuaded him that the opportunity was like
a special Providence, it was so inviting and perfect.
So he went raiding, after all, and made a nice success
of it while everybody was gone to Patsy Cooper’s.
Success gave him nerve and even actual intrepidity;
insomuch, indeed, that after he had conveyed his harvest
to his mother in a back alley, he went to the reception
himself, and added several of the valuables of that
house to his takings.
After this long digression we have now arrived once
more at the point where Pudd’nhead Wilson, while
waiting for the arrival of the twins on that same
Friday evening, sat puzzling over the strange apparition
of that morning—a girl in young Tom Driscoll’s
bedroom; fretting, and guessing, and puzzling over
it, and wondering who the shameless creature might
be.
There are three infallible ways
of pleasing an author, and the three form a rising
scale of compliment: 1—to tell him
you have read one of his books; 2—to
tell him you have read all of his books; 3—to
ask him to let you read the manuscript of his
forthcoming book. No. 1 admits you to his respect;
No. 2 admits you to his admiration; No. 3 carries
you clear into his heart. —Pudd’nhead
Wilson’s Calendar
As to the Adjective:
when in doubt, strike it out. —
Pudd’nhead Wilson’s
Calendar
The twins arrived presently, and talk began.
It flowed along chattily and sociably, and under its
influence the new friendship gathered ease and strength.
Wilson got out his Calendar, by request, and read a
passage or two from it, which the twins praised quite
cordially. This pleased the author so much that
he complied gladly when they asked him to lend them
a batch of the work to read at home. In the course
of their wide travels, they had found out that there
are three sure ways of pleasing an author; they were
now working the best of the three.
There was an interruption now. Young Driscoll
appeared, and joined the party. He pretended
to be seeing the distinguished strangers for the first
time when they rose to shake hands; but this was only
a blind, as he had already had a glimpse of them,
at the reception, while robbing the house. The
twins made mental note that he was smooth-faced and
rather handsome, and smooth and undulatory in his
movements—graceful, in fact. Angelo
thought he had a good eye; Luigi thought there was
something veiled and sly about it. Angelo thought
he had a pleasant free-and-easy way of talking; Luigi
thought it was more so than was agreeable. Angelo
thought he was a sufficiently nice young man; Luigi
reserved his decision. Tom’s first contribution
to the conversation was a question which he had put
to Wilson a hundred times before. It was always
cheerily and good-natured put, and always inflicted
a little pang, for it touched a secret sore; but this
time the pang was sharp, since strangers were present.
