For a
while it seemed to him that the whole house was about to be torn to
pieces. He was even requested to step out of his study, one day, into
which immediately entered, in his absence, two of the most vigorous
women of the parish, who proceeded to uttermost measures,--first
pitching everything into pie, so that the Doctor, who returned
disconsolately to look for a book, at once gave up himself and his
system of divinity as entirely lost, until assured by one of the
ladies, in a condescending manner, that he knew nothing about the
matter, and that, if he would return after half a day, he would find
everything right again,--a declaration in which he tried to have
unlimited faith, and which made him feel the advantage of a mind
accustomed to believing in mysteries. And it is to be remarked, that on
his return he actually found his table in most perfect order, with not
a single one of his papers missing; in fact, to his ignorant eye the
room looked exactly as it did before; and when Miss Prissy eloquently
demonstrated to him, that every inch of that paint had been scrubbed,
and the windows taken out, and washed inside and out, and rinsed
through three waters, and that the curtains had been taken down, and
washed, and put through a blue water, and starched, and ironed, and put
up again,--he only innocently wondered, in his ignorance, what there
was in a man's being married that made all these ceremonies necessary.
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