Munroe
was at home.
Now all that Matty knew of Mrs. Munroe was that her
name was on a well-scoured brass plate on the door.
Mrs. Munroe was in. Beverly said he would wait in
the passage. Mrs. Munroe proved to be a nice, motherly
sort of a person, who, as it need hardly be said, was
stone-deaf. It required some time for Matty to adjust
her speaking apparatus to the exigency, but when this was
done, Mrs. Munroe explained that Mr. Gilbert was dead,--
that an effort had been made to continue the business
with the old sign and the old good will, under the
direction of a certain Mr. Bundy, who had sometimes been
called in as an assistant. But Mr. Bundy, after some
years, paid more attention to whiskey than he did to
notarying, and the law business had suffered. Finally,
Mr. Bundy was brought home by the police one night with
a broken head, and then Mrs. Gilbert had withdrawn the
signs, cancelled the lease, turned Mr. Bundy out-of-
doors, and retired to live with a step-sister of her
brother's wife's father near the Arsenal; good Mrs.
Munroe was not certain whether on Delaware Avenue, or
whether on T Street, U Street, or V Street. And, indeed,
whether the lady's name were Butman before she married
her second husband, and Lichtenfels afterward--or whether
his name were Butman and hers Lichtenfels, Mrs. Munroe
was not quite sure.
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