"I wish I'd never taken it," said the other.
"Dear, dear, dear!" said Mrs. Jones.
"I'll give you my needle-case, Miss Grogram," said Aunt Sally.
I had sat hitherto silent during the whole scene, meditating how
best I might confound the red-nosed harpy. Now, I thought, was the
time for me to strike in.
"I really think, ladies, that there has been some mistake," said I.
"There has been no mistake at all, sir!" said Miss Grogram.
"Perhaps not," I answered, very mildly; "very likely not. But some
affair of a similar nature was very much talked about in Antwerp
yesterday."
"Oh laws!" again ejaculated Mrs. Jones.
"The affair I allude to has been talked about a good deal,
certainly," I continued. "But perhaps it may be altogether a
different circumstance."
"And what may be the circumstance to which you allude?" asked Miss
Macmanus, in the same authoritative tone.
"I dare say it has nothing to do with these ladies," said I; "but an
article of dress, of the nature they have described, was cut up in
the Castle of Antwerp on the day before yesterday. It belonged to a
gentleman who was visiting the place; and I was given to understand
that he is determined to punish the people who have wronged him.
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