Page:Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Volume 2.djvu/28

10 possible for her. Long after Mat had bravely donned the scarlet hose, cocked up her beaver and gone forth to festive scenes, her shipmate remained below in chrysalis state, fed by faithful Marie, visited by the ever-cheerful Amanda, and enlivened by notes and messages from fellow-sufferers in far-off cells.

Mr. and Mrs. Harry Walmars, Jr., called and had private theatricals in the passage. Dried-ginger parties were held about the invalid's berth, poems were composed, and conundrums circulated. A little newspaper was concocted, replete with wit and spirit, by these secluded ladies, and called the "Sherald," to distinguish it from the "Herald" got up by sundry gentlemen whose shining hours were devoted to flirtation, cards, and wine.

"Perfect gentlemen, I assure you, my dear; for, drunk or sober, they wear yellow kids from morning till night, smoke the best cigars, and dance divinely," as Mrs. Twaddle said, sitting erect in the saloon, shrouded in fur and velvet, with five diamond-rings well displayed as she recounted the diseases she had enjoyed, and did the honors of a remarkable work-basket, containing eight different sorts of scissors.