Drawing the major aside, I whispered a request, which led to a
certain small article being passed over to me, after which I
sauntered out on the stoop just in time to encounter the spruce
but irate figure of Mr. Moore, who had crossed from the opposite
side.
"Ah!" said I. "Good morning!" and made him my most deferential bow.
He glared and Rudge glared from his place on the farther curb.
Evidently the police were not in favor with the occupants of the
cottage that morning.
"When is this to cease?" he curtly demanded. "When are these
early-morning trespasses upon an honest citizen's property coming
to an end? I wake with a light heart, expecting that my house,
which is certainly as much mine as is any man's in Washington, would
be handed over this very day for my habitation, when what do I see
- one police officer leaving the front door and another sunning
himself in the vestibule. How many more of you are within I do not
presume to ask. Some half-dozen, no doubt, and not one of you smart
enough to wind up this matter and have done with it."
"Ah! I don't know about that," I drawled, and looked very wise.
His curiosity was aroused.
"Anything new?" he snapped.
"Possibly," I returned, in a way to exasperate a saint.
He stepped on to the porch beside me.
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