installed in the
upper hall bed-room, which, when it had received the necessary furniture
and a saratoga trunk, with numerous boxes and baskets, would scarcely
allow space enough to dress in. However, Mrs. Mason reported that the
tenant professed real satisfaction with her quarters; and we all were on
tiptoe with curiosity to see the new inmate.

"Miss Jorgensen," said Mrs. Mason, that evening, as she escorted to the
dinner-table a small, pale, dark-eyed young person, in deep mourning;
and we being severally and separately presented afterward, endeavored to
place this little lonely scrap of humanity at ease with ourselves. But
in this well-intentioned effort Miss Jorgensen did not seem to meet us
half way. On the contrary, she repelled us. She was reserved without
being diffident; mercilessly critical, and fierily disputatious--all of
which we found out in less than a week. She never entered or left a room
without somehow disturbing the mental atmosphere of it, and giving the
inmates a little shock; so that Mr. Quivey, our dramatic writer, soon
took to calling her the "Electrical Eel," substituting "E. E." when the
person indicated was within ear-shot possibly or probably. In return, as
we afterward discovered, Miss Jorgensen told Miss Flower, our other
young lady boarder, that she had christened Mr. Quivey "I.
I."--"Incurable Idiot." How the "E. E." came to her knowledge was never
made plain. Before three months were past, she had quarreled with every
one in the house except Mrs. Mason and myself; though, to her credit be
it said, she always apologized for her temper when they were over, with
a frankness that disarmed resentment. Nevertheless, she was so
frequently in a hostile attitude toward one or another in the family,
that the mere mention of Miss Jorgensen's name was sure to arrest
attention and excite expectations. Thus, when I only chanced to whisper
to Mrs. Mason at breakfast one morning, "Miss Jorgensen keeps late
hours," every one at the table glanced our way inquiringly, as much as
to ask, "What has the little woman done now?" And when she appeared at
the close of the meal with pale face and swollen eyes, explaining her
tardiness by saying she had a headache, no one gave her sympathizing
looks except the landlady.

That kind-hearted person confided to me, later in the day, that her new
boarder troubled and puzzled her very much. "She will sit up until one
or two o'clock every night, writing something or ot