Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 011.djvu/493



“ will now begin No. 2,” said the professor, as he tied the strings of his portfolio of prints, and looked towards another which was lying by the table: “this will, I think, afford you still more pleasure; but, Madam, you look so frequently at the clock, that I fear ”

“I only fear,” said the counsellor’s lady, “that it is growing too late to begin another; and it would be really a pity to hurry over such well-selected works. If your engagements will permit some other time?”

“It is not yet very late,” her husband replied, as he was lifting a heavy folio on the table; “we shall have plenty of time to look over this part, leisurely enough; what makes you in such a hurry to-night?”

“I think it best for every one to be at his own home in the evening,” observed the wife of the counsellor; “it is much safer.”

“Safer?” asked the counsellor, laughing, “you pay a fine compliment to our police! in what may the danger consist, which you seem to fear so much, now the military, who are generally the greatest destroyers of safety, have left the town?”

“That is the very cause of my fear,” rejoined the lady; “they would not have left us, if they had not doubted of their own security; the enemy are, I fear, approaching, and disturbances often arise when they are least expected.”

“Oh! if that be your only ground of alarm,” said the professor, laughing, “we may proceed with our prints very safely; it will be long enough before the enemy arrive here, and, I think, we are more likely to, see our protectors (as they term themselves) again, than our foes, for they are no longer our enemies. In the mean time, your apprehensions are not without foundation; for here in the very first leaves, I shall show you some of these Tartarian tribes, at least in effigy.”

“Another time, I beg,” replied the anxious lady; “if you knew my uneasiness, you would yourself be glad to have me at home.”

“But really,” said the counsellor, endeavouring to tranquillize her, “you are needlessly alarmed; according to the latest news, a few days may possibly bring about some military events, or send us some strange guests—but I will answer for to-morrow; and as to this evening, there is not the remotest probability of any thing happening.”

It was in vain they sought to convince the lady of the groundlessness of her alarm; she became obviously more and more anxious, and finally, not to destroy the pleasure of the party, she proposed that the professor should accompany them home, and that he and her husband might there look over some prints and pictures together, on which discussions had formerly arisen between them. The scheme was acceded to; the professor laughed at her earnest exhortation, while he double-locked his doors; and the party proceeded with many jests and much merriment to the house of the counsellor, where the conversation on the latest works of art soon resumed its former vivacity.

“Would one not believe,” observed the counsellor during the absence of his lady, “that my wife had second sight? Her strange solicitude makes me almost anxious myself; it is not customary with her.”

“Let us come to the discussions which are the order of the day,” observed the professor; “you surely cannot believe in such things; we Rh