Doctor Grimshawe's Secret

might be; and it was his habit, not only to send the two children to play, for lack of a better place, in the

children each by a hand, with a surly aspect like a bulldog. Their remarks were possibly not intended to reach the ears of the party, but certainly were not so cautiously whispered but they occasionally did do so. The male remarks, indeed, generally died away in the throats that uttered them; a circumstance that doubtless saved the utterer from some ve

he has caught in his cobweb, and is going to feed upon, poor little tender things! The bloody

t is! Pretty habits those children will learn, between the Devil in the shape of a great spider, and this d

r three little blackguard barefoo

Grim, Do

wove a web

streets, and under his own windows. Hearing such remarks and insults, the Doctor would glare round

me through the war of the Revolution, and while the surges of that commotion were still seething and swelling, and while the habits and morals of every individual in the community still felt its influence; and especially the contest was too recent for an Englishman to be in very good odor, unless he should cease to be English, and become more American than the Americans themselves in repudiating British prejudices or principles, habits, mode of thought, and everything that distinguishes Britons at home or abroad. As Doctor Grim did not see fit to do this, and as, moreover, he was a very doubtful, questionable, morose, unamiable old fellow, not seeking

n the Doctor-the two children meanwhile being in the graveyard at play-to give him Christian advice as to the management of his charge. But, to confess the truth, the Doctor's reception of these fair missionaries was not extremely courteous. They were, perhaps, partly instigated by a natural feminine desire to see the interior of a place about which they had heard much, with its spiders' webs, its strange machines and confusing tools; so, much contrary to crusty Hannah's advice, they persisted in entering. Crusty Hannah listened at the door; and it was curious to see the delighted smile which came over her dry old visage as the Doctor's growling, rough voice, after an abrupt question or two, and a reply in a thin voice on the part of the maiden ladies, grew louder and louder, till the door opened, and forth came the benevolent pair in great dis

e to censure; surmises taken for certainties; superstitions-the genuine hereditary offspring of the frame of public mind which produced the witchcraft delusion-all fermenting together; and all this evil and uncharitableness taking the delusive hue of benevolent interest in two helpless children;-we may partly judge what was the odium in which the grim Doctor

d to take particularly good aim with a mud ball, which took effect right in the midst of the Doctor's bushy beard, and, being of a soft consistency, forthwith became incorporated with it. At this intolerable provocation the grim Doctor pursu

the street, or out of the unpaved sidewalks, rushed fierce avenging forms, threatening at full yell to take vengeance on the grim Doctor; who still, with that fierce dark face of his,-his muddy beard all flying abroad, dirty and foul, his hat fallen off, his red eyes flashing fire,-was belaboring the poor hinder end of the unhappy urchin, paying off upon that one part of the boy's

ry! the wizard! the body-snatcher!" bellowed the mob, one member of which was

ggering helter-skelter to the scene, and tumbling over one another at the Doctor's feet. There came the father of the punished urchin, who had never shown heretofore any care for his street-bred progeny, but who now came pale with rage, armed with a pair of tongs; and with him the mother, flying like a fury, with her cap awry, and clutching a broomstick, as if she were a witch just alighted. Up they rushed from cellar doors, and dropped down from chamber windows; all rushing upon the Doctor, but overturning and thwarting themselves by their very multitude. For, as good Doctor Grim levelled the first that came within reach of his

y Englishman! Hang him in the web of his own devilish spider,

il fight his own troubles, if not assist them in their attack. Here you might have seen a brother physician of the grim Doctor's greatly tickled at his pl

his Grimshawe,-a quack, intemperate, always i

hurch-members, who, hearing a noise, set out gravely and deco

ofane Grimshawe, who never goes to

the selec

f these nice, sweet children; something must be done abo

y, making himself no allies, sewing himself on to nobody's skirts, insulating hims

their fierceness, and the more skilled assault of some among them must almost immediately have been successful, when the Doctor's part was strengthened by an unexpected ally. This was

what would you d

Grim, took effect on the head of this man, who seemed to have no sort of skill or alacrity at defending himself, any more than at making an assau

ere the victim. And besides, the fathers and respectabilities of the town, who had seen this mishap from afar, now began to put forward, crying out, "Keep the peace! keep the peace! A riot! a riot!" and other such cries as suited the emergency; and the crowd vanished more speedily than it had congregated, leaving th

; for, if he dies, you h

as done ac