He collected the papers and placed them carefully inside a shabby purse. Then he rose and departed in the direction of the governor-general's palace. He must have been pressed for time, for he quite forgot to walk with the deliberation that would have beseemed his apparent years.
Netty walked round the outside of the gardens, and ultimately turned into the Senatorska, the street recommended to her by her uncle as being composed of the best shops in the town. Oddly enough, she met Joseph Mangles there--not loitering near the windows, but hurrying along.
“Ah!” he said, “thought I might meet you here.”
He was, it appeared, as simple as other old gentlemen, and leaped to the conclusion that if Netty was out-of-doors she must necessarily be in the Senatorska. He suited his pace to hers. His head was thrust forward, and he appeared to have something to think about, for he offered no remark for some minutes.
“The mail is in,” he then observed, in his usual lugubrious tone, as if the post had brought him his death-warrant.
“Ah!” answered Netty, glancing up at him. She was sure that something had happened. “Have you had important news?”
“Had nothing by the mail,” he answered, looking straight in front of him. And Netty asked no more questions.
“Your aunt Jooly,” he said, after a pause, “has had an interesting mail. She has been offered the presidency--”
“Of the United States?” asked Netty, with a little laugh, seeing that Joseph paused.
“Not yet,” he answered, with deep gravity. “Of the Massachusetts Women Bachelors' Federation.”
“She'll accept,” opined Joseph P. Mangles, lugubriously.
“There are different sorts of greatness,” Joseph replied.
“What is the Massachusetts Women Bachelors' Federation?”
Joseph Mangles did not reply immediately. He stepped out into the road to allow a lady to pass. He was an American gentleman of the old school, and still offered to the stronger sex that which they intend to take for themselves in the future.
“Think it is like the blue-ribbon army,” he said, when he returned to Netty's side. “The sight of the ribbon induces the curious to offer the abstainer drink. The Massachusetts Bachelor Women advertise their membership of the Federation, just to see if there is any man around who will induce 'em to resign.”